Spellbound
by writergirl8
Summary: Percy always thought the most bewitching thing he could discover at Hogwarts was magic. Then he met Annabeth Chase.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: In case you get confused at any point during the story about character background, House, age, etc, please feel free to refer to this chart: __ /ZRAkzx1JqlxTw__ . This story was written for Mari (percyyoulittleshit on tumblr) and beta read by Ashley (sass-is-the-new-class on tumblr.)_

**First Year**

The first time he sees her, her hair is divided into two pigtails that glide almost all the way down her back. Her eyes, stormy and startling, are skidding hawkishly around the platform, judgmental and elated all at the same time. Her knuckles are white as she clutches onto her wand, seeming to expect somebody to take it away from her. Mostly, what Percy remembers about the first time he sees Annabeth is that she is not smiling.

It takes all of his strength to turn his gaze towards his mother, whose eyes are filled with tears at the sight before her. Upon seeing the look on her face, Percy lets out an embarrassed, "Mum!" and she turns to look at him, reaching a hand up to ruffle his hair.

"I can't believe this is real," she admits, voice low and musical. Percy wants to roll his eyes at her, but he can't. He feels the exact same way. Except _he's _not crying. He doesn't cry anymore- after all, he's eleven now.

"Do you have everything you need?" his mum questions, brushing a tear from the corner of her eye. "Socks? Underwear? Your w-wand? Mrs. O'Leary?"

At the latter sentence, Percy heaves an enormous sigh and glares down at the tiny gray kitten curled up in a basket at his feet, fast asleep.

"I can't believe I let you name her."

His mum releases a watery laugh and brushes his bangs away from his eyes before she leans down to kiss the crown of his messy head.

"Have a wonderful time, my love."

He allows his arms to stay wrapped around her for longer than he'd care to admit before kissing her on the cheek and ducking quickly onto the train. Most of the students are still on the platform, so only half of the compartments are full. Percy locates a seat where he can look out the window and see his mum; he plops down in it, being careful not to shift Mrs. O'Leary's basket too much in his hurry to see his mum again before the train starts moving.

"Hey." Percy looks up to see a boy with fair hair and blue eyes giving him a curious smile from the doorway to the compartment. "We met in Diagon Alley, yeah?"

Recognition dawns on Percy's face, and he nods slowly.

"Yeah, hi." For a moment, the two of them stare at each other awkwardly. Then Percy lets a shy smile etch its way onto his face. "Do you wanna sit down?"

"Yeah!" the other boy says in a quick breath, plopping his cat carrier onto the bench before he sits. "I'm Jason, and this is Trident, my cat."

Trident blinks up at Percy, distrust shining through his yellow eyes.

"I'm Percy." His eyes are still trained on the cat as he says it. "And, um, this is Mrs. O'Leary."

"Hey," grins Jason, making himself more comfortable on the seat.

They sit in silence, staring at each other uncertainly. Percy knows that he could make the decision to talk, or he could allow the two of them to sit uncomfortably in their seats together. And even though he was abandoned by the man who had given him the power to go to Hogwarts in the first place, Percy desperately wants to belong in this world.

"So… what House do you wanna be in?"

It's kind of easy to slide into a friendship after that.

(ooo)

The first thing that Percy notices about the Great Hall is the way his classmates stare at it. More specifically, he catches a view of the blond girl from the platform before he sees the actual hall. She's ahead of him in line, but she's stretched out on her tip toes, her long legs not enough for her to be able to see everything. The girl's gray eyes flicker everywhere, vulnerable in their amazement. Percy feels like he's getting to know her just by looking at the slight flush in her cheeks and the way her lips part in amazement.

The hall _is_ beautiful, he gives her that. He especially likes the candles that float near the arches in the ceiling, casting a unique glow on the room. It illuminates everybody's face in a wash that only serves to perpetuate how magical Hogwarts is. And ever since Percy saw the view of it from the boat, he's realized that he's only just beginning to understand the magic of this place.

His eyes are drawn back to the girl as they move through the hall, something in his stomach tugging him toward her. Percy wants to leap forward, grab her shoulder, and start talking to her; to ask her what she thinks is so fascinating about this hall and how that fascination might correlate with his. But instead, he points out the ceiling to Jason and Jason nods enthusiastically, a boyish grin crossing his face as it registers different aspects of the hall.

The girl's name is Annabeth Chase, and when the old, raggedy Sorting Hat gets placed on her head, she remains completely cool and collected as it announces that she is a Ravenclaw. Her expression doesn't change at all; she just allows Professor Chiron to remove the hat from her head, stands up, and trounces off to the Ravenclaw table.

Percy keeps his eyes on Annabeth the entire time he's being sorted, but he isn't put in Ravenclaw and that's okay because as soon as he sits down at the Hufflepuff table and sees the smiling faces adorned in yellow, something like hope grows in his stomach and he starts to believe that he can do good here.

(ooo)

"Are you lost?"

He says it without thinking, and because he's spent the past two days wanting to talk to this girl, and now that both of them are alone and in the same place, Percy thinks that it's a perfectly good time to open his mouth and say something. He does not count on the way her eyebrows immediately constrict and her face turns sour.

"I'm not lost," she says, lips a thin line. "I'm fine."

"Okay," Percy says simply, getting closer to her. She takes a step back, expression haughty. "I'm lost. Can you help me?"

"Where are you trying to go?"

She looks like she's balancing something on the edge of her nose. She's taller than him, and she stares down at him with an expression that borders on offended.

"Astronomy. That's where you're going too, right?"

Annabeth quirks an eyebrow.

"Yes. How did you know that?"

"Our Houses have the class together," Percy points out, allowing his finger to jab the place on his schedule where the information is revealed. "Anyways, can we walk together if you know where you're going?"

She stares at him as she dithers, clutching the book that is folded in her arms close to her chest. Percy takes this time to stare up at her, adjusting his yellow tie for something to do. He wants to seem like he's casually observing, not like he's drinking in her face. But, really, he's trying to figure out why he's so drawn to her.

He's pretty sure it's her eyes. Percy has never seen eyes like that before.

"I don't know where I'm going either."

She chokes the words out like they're something scary or disgusting, biting her lip as soon as they've left her mouth.

"We'll figure it out," he says. When he smiles at her, it isn't a real grin. He doesn't want to scare her away with a large smile or a big laugh. She seems like the thing balancing on the tip of her nose could fall off at any moment, and although he wants it to, he isn't sure that she's quite ready for it to go away. So Percy shrugs and smiles and pulls out his map and tries not to make any sudden movements when her hair brushes his arm as she bends over the map.

He really likes her hair.

(ooo)

People have been talking about Quidditch since September, so it only makes sense that the stands are completely packed during the first game of the season. Percy files dutifully into the stands with everybody else, trailing behind Jason, who is practically wetting himself with excitement. Percy's mom never really told him about Quidditch, and he wonders if his dad had talked to her about it when they were together. Maybe he hadn't. There isn't much that his mom hadn't told him before he came to Hogwarts, as many of his bedtime stories had come in the form of tales that his father had told his mom.

With Jason leading the way, it isn't surprising that they end up in the Ravenclaw stands. Percy feels out of place with his yellow Hufflepuff scarf, but that's nothing to how he feels when Jason stops short right next to Annabeth and sits down next to her. It's suddenly as though his limbs are separated from his body. He clears his throat awkwardly before taking his seat next to Jason, who is chattering casually to Annabeth, oblivious to Percy's reaction at unexpectedly being thrown into her midst.

"Hi." A voice to his right causes Percy to turn, and when he does, he is assaulted with a view of bright red, frizzy hair, barely tamed by the Ravenclaw knit cap that is perched on top of it. "I'm Rachel."

"Percy," he replies, giving her a smile. He's usually more vivacious than this, but being around Annabeth makes him nervous. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," she sees, scrutinizing him closely. Rachel glances between Percy and Annabeth, squinting her eyes slightly as she sees the widening of his own. "You should sit next to her."

"Why?"

"I think she likes you."

"You think she… what?"

"Well, I think she _could_ like you," Rachel corrects, a grin crossing her face. "There's a difference."

"Um?"

Before he can say anything else, or ask one of the million questions that have popped up in the two minute conversation he has had with Rachel, Jason has turned around at the sound of her voice.

"Is it true, Percy?" he asks, looking shocked.

"Um, what?"

"That you've never seen a Quidditch game," Rachel presses, nudging her elbow into his side in a way that could only be considered wrenchingly painful. "Because I haven't either, so I think you need to sit between Jason and Annabeth so that they can explain stuff to you."

"Oh, that's not a problem-" Percy begins to say, but he's cut off by Jason standing up and indicating that the two of them should switch seats. Which is how Percy ends up seated right next to Annabeth, his arm pressed up against her smaller arm, his hands carefully placed on his knees so that he won't accidentally touch her and incur some sort of wrath.

"So," Jason begins, clasping his hand around Percy's shoulder. "That's a Bludger, and that's a Quaffle, right there, and what _he_'_s _looking for is the snitch, which is a tiny-"

Percy doesn't pay attention to Jason because a gust of wind has just alerted him to the fact that Annabeth's hair smells like lemon.

"So," he says, cutting off Jason mid sentence and turning to Annabeth. "Quidditch is pretty amazing, huh? Actual human beings flying on _broomsticks_ in the sky for an organized sport. Who would have thought that could ever happen?"

She looks down at him, slight disdain in her expression.

"I've been playing since I was little," she says finally, her voice stiff. "So… sure. I suppose so."

He doesn't understand how someone who seems so magical could be so utterly unimpressed by magic.

(ooo)

Piper plops her books down extra hard when she pulls into her seat next to Percy, and he raises his eyebrows at her with a slightly amused smile.

"What happened?"

"My dad just sent me a letter- he's starring in another awful muggle romance film."

She likes to talk to Percy about these things because he, unlike many of their classmates, understands what's going on without Piper having to explain. Although he hadn't known that Tristan McLean was a wizard until he met Piper, Percy had been fully aware of how disturbingly campy his blockbusters were, a fact which Piper took to deep shame.

"Why don't you mention to him that all of the films that he does are terrible and then offer to become his agent and tell him exactly which films to take?" Percy suggests, teasing her. Piper shoots him an annoyed look.

"I know you've talked to human beings, so I'm certain that you realize what a bad idea that is."

"What's a bad idea?"

The two of them look up to see Annabeth standing in front of their desk, clutching her books to her chest and giving them both a small smile. She smiles like that a lot- smiles that are small and reserved and never seem to grow into something bigger. Percy wants to see what a huge Annabeth Chase smile looks like. He doesn't know if he ever will.

But the first step is smiling at her. He lets a grin stretch across his face, big and goofy.

"Leaping into the Black Lake so that I can ask the giant squid to come home with me for Christmas."

Her hair swishes across her elbows, the curly tips of it swaying back and forth, as she shakes her head.

"And you go to him for advice?" she chides Piper, setting her books on the desk next to her friend and adjusting her skirt carefully before she sits down. Everything about Annabeth is careful; slow, even. She wants things done meticulously all of the time. That's why Percy is pretty sure he could never be partners with her in class. Frank couldn't either, to be fair.

Maybe Annabeth and Jason could work well together. They're both smart- way smarter than Percy. And they're both more organized, and from the magical world, whereas Percy is just a half-blood who grew up with a muggle mother. Annabeth and Jason are intrinsically Ravenclaws and they have much more in common than Percy and Annabeth. Which is why they're probably never going to be good friends.

(ooo)

"I need your help."

She says it with her mouth twisted in the sourness of the words; it looks like she's just suckled a lemon. Percy sets down his quill and looks over his left and right shoulders, motions exaggerated.

"Are… are you talking to me?"

She knits her eyebrows together.

"Yes," Annabeth says shortly.

"Annabeth Chase needs my help twice in one school year? Surely this is a joke."

"When was the first time?"

"Remember? You were lost and I saved you?"

"You didn't save me."

"I did!"

Annabeth slams her books onto the table in front of him, pulls back the chair, and rams herself down onto it.

"You did _not _save me."

She looks so murderous that Percy decides to dial back on the whole 'pissing her off' thing.

"What do you need help with?"

The nervous look is back in her expression as Annabeth licks her lips.

"I have to get into the Hufflepuff common room."

Percy picks up his quill again and busies himself with the paper lying in front of me.

"That's a terrible idea. No."

"Why not?" Annabeth complains. He wonders if she's accustomed to not getting what she wants. "Look, my friend Luke is in that House and his birthday is coming up and I really want to surprise him with his gift."

"And you felt comfortable asking me for this because…?"

She starts to blush.

"Because… you helped me last time."

"Aha!" He raises his head triumphantly. "So you do remember?"

"Shut up, idiot."

"I will help you-"

"Thank you."

"-if you promise to help me with Transfiguration for the rest of the year."

"The rest of the year?"

"It's a very risky thing that you're asking me to do."

"But you like risk, don't you?"

He quirks his lips up at that.

"What makes you think that?"

"Just a hunch."

For the first time, her eyes seem clear, not clouded by something that separates her real feelings from the rest of the world. It's this that makes Percy concede.

"Okay. Four months of Transfiguration help. Take it or leave it."

She takes it.

(ooo)

"Wait, so you actually kicked him in the head?"

"Yep."

He tosses a grape in his mouth in a manner that could only be described as self-important, watching as Annabeth's eyes narrow suspiciously from where she hovers above him, elegantly cross-legged on the blanket.

"Don't play with me, Jackson."

She's dithering on the edge of the smile, which is a corner that he always gets her into when they're having their study sessions together. Lately, these have been less study sessions and more 'getting to know you' sessions, but Percy isn't about to bring that up and ruin the whole thing.

"I actually kicked him in the head."

Her entire face explodes in a smile, one that blooms out across her mouth and spreads through her eyes. Percy feels his stomach leap in a self-satisfied way as he watches her amusement take over her face. He loves seeing her smile like this.

"Did you get in trouble?"

"I'm not allowed to go back to flying lessons for the rest of the year."

"And Frank?"

"He just laughed it off, really," Percy says casually, lifting his wand in the air so that he can practice wrist movements with it. Annabeth reaches over and grabs his wrist immediately, trying to help him perfect the movement, but it causes Percy's head to turn sideways so he can look up at her. His hair is getting messier as it spreads out on the blanket, but he doesn't care as he looks up at her and watches the way her hair makes a halo around her head. "Although he's in the hospital wing now."

"Poor Frank," Annabeth snickers, covering her hand with her mouth when she realizes how mean she sounds. Percy smirks at her. "I mean, I feel absolutely terrible that he's in the hospital wing, of course."

"You feel bad for him?" repeats Percy, aghast. "Annabeth. I can't go back to flying lessons. Did you not hear that?"

"I think you'll live," she snorts, brushing a bit of her hair back from her face. Her gray eyes soften as she stares down at him, and Percy lifts his lips in another smile. He smiles a lot in general, but when she's around, it's even more than usual.

"Why are you sitting like that?" he inquires, wrinkling his nose judgementally. "Lie down. Join the party."

For a moment, Annabeth hesitates. Then she nods slowly, unfolding her legs out from underneath herself so that she can lie down on the blanket next to him. Together, the two of them stare up at the light blue sky, reveling in the first warm day of spring.

"Are you excited to turn twelve?" she asks. As always, there's an air of maturity that surrounds her voice. She's turning twelve a month before him, but he doesn't say anything about that.

"Yeah," he nods. "My mum always makes a blue cake for my birthday."

"Blue?" Annabeth crinkles her nose. "Why blue?"

He turns his head sideways to look at her.

"Have you never had blue cake, Annabeth Chase?"

She shakes her head.

"I'll send you a piece. You have to experience it to understand its brilliance."

"Okay then."

They lie there in silence until the rest of their friends find them. Even then, they don't move.

**Second Year**

"Percy!"

He turns around to see a twelve-year-old girl waving excitedly at him, her tanned arm thrown into the air. He can barely see her from her spot all the way across the platform and doesn't really know how he heard her, either. Maybe he was just subconsciously searching for her voice.

"That's Annabeth, isn't it?" his mum asks, her voice certain. Although Percy has told her about all of the friends that he made over the course of his first year, she seems to immediately know which one is Annabeth.

"Yeah," Percy grins. She comes closer, trailing her mother behind her. From Annabeth's few descriptions of this woman, Percy takes an immediate dislike to her upon seeing her. Even if Annabeth hadn't told him about her mother's distance, he's pretty sure he would hate her. She carries the same snobby look that Annabeth had at the beginning of their first year. But it's different now. He thinks that Annabeth is happier. This woman, on the other hand, does not seem happy.

"Hello, Mrs. Chase," Percy's mom greets, her voice courteous and warm.

"Hello," Mrs. Chase says politely. Annabeth's smile falls slightly at the lack of warmth in her mother's voice. Percy knows that she likes her dad better, but she doesn't really talk about either of her parents much. He knows that her dad is remarried and has a new family, but it's difficult to get information out of Annabeth and he doesn't want to make her uncomfortable.

Percy turns away from Mrs. Chase and directs his attention towards her daughter, who, he realizes with a pang to his stomach, is taller than him. She doesn't make comment when his face turns from content to horrified in a matter of seconds, instead giving him an odd look before he turns around to introduce her to his mother.

"I've heard so much about you," Percy's mum says genuinely, her voice still holding familiarity in spite of the cold greeting that Mrs. Chase had offered her. "And Jason and Piper and Frank and Rachel as well."

What she doesn't say is that these people are the first group of people that Percy had been able to tell his mum about; school had been a lonely place for Percy until he had finally been able to come to Hogwarts. He feels like he's waited his entire life to get here, and now that he is, it's so worth it that it makes his stomach ache like he's had too much of something too sweet.

"I've heard lots about you too," Annabeth replies smoothly. "Percy says that you're taking creative writing courses!"

He frowns and tries to remember when he had told her that; he had just found out himself when he had come home from break. It must have been in one of the letters that they had exchanged- Percy had been terrible at correspondence with most of his friends, but getting a letter from Annabeth had felt like a special treat and he had always sat down to reply to it immediately, etching out his answers in an inky blue pen. Her letters were always written with a quill, but Percy had enjoyed the luxury of using a pen after nine months of garnering his quill callus.

"Hey!" Jason strides up to the two of them, already dressed in his uniform. He has eschewed the robes and is just wearing his white shirt, gray sweater, and Ravenclaw tie. When he stretches his arms out and links them around Percy and Annabeth's shoulders, he gives Percy an affectionate nuggie. "I'm Jason."

He's introducing himself to Annabeth's mother because he's already met Percy's. They had hung out over the summer, the two of them and Frank, and they had all practiced Quidditch together. Percy is actually starting to get pretty good, but he'd never say that to Annabeth, who is fiercely competitive and plays the same position that is his favorite. He's not quite good enough to challenge her, but he will be one day soon, and when he is, he wants to be able to take her off guard.

Taking Annabeth off guard is his new goal in life.

As the three of them board the train and weave their way through, looking for Piper and Frank, Percy feels a large chunk of discomfort settle in his stomach as he realizes that he wasn't nearly sad enough to leave his mum behind. He loves her, but he's so excited to go back to school and be with his friends and be surrounded by the magic of the place.

When they finally find Piper, cooing over her new tawny owl, who she has named Dagger, Percy forgets about his mum. This is where he is. This is what he's doing.

He's on his way to being raised by Hogwarts as much as he's been raised by her.

(ooo)

The common room is loud when Percy gets back from the library, toting a half-asleep Frank behind him. In general, the Hufflepuff common room isn't really rowdy, but all of the upperclassmen have just gotten back from Hogsmeade and are currently regaling their experiences, in excruciating detail, to the first and second years.

Percy has learned to avoid all common areas during Hogsmeade weekends, instead choosing to spend his time in the library with Annabeth and Piper or playing Quidditch with Jason, Frank, and Leo, a Gryffindor that had gone to school with Jason when they were little kids. Leo had been a muggleborn before Jason's mother had recognized the signs in him and came to the realization that he was a wizard. It's a story that Jason likes to rib Leo about a lot, teasing that he never would have come to Hogwarts had he not met Jason so why won't he go get that library book that Jason really wants?

The bright yellow common room brings cheer to him in spite of the fact that it's filled to bursting with Hogwarts students.

"I'm not convinced that all of these kids are actually _in _Hufflepuff," Frank jokes, but Percy agrees with him- he's not sure if their common room has ever been quite so overstuffed.

The two of them are just about to reach the dorms when a small, dark haired girl approaches them, her brown eyes lighting up when she sees Percy.

"Hey!" she says, moving closer. "Annabeth's looking for you."

"Annabeth's looking for me?"

He had just left her in the library with Piper and she had seemed completely fine.

"Well, actually..." She slows herself down, taking a breath. "Piper's looking for you because she wants you to go cheer up Annabeth. Or something like that."

Percy's heart speeds up.

"Is she okay?"

"She's… well, I'm not really sure. Piper instructed me to get you and I saw Annabeth looking upset. I don't have a ton of information. I'm Hazel, by the way."

The girl isn't bold, but she's not shy either. Percy likes her immediately; there's something easy about her demeanor even though they're in an anxious situation. Hazel isn't twisting her hands in her skirt or wringing them together. She's calm and put together.

"Hazel, this is my friend Frank."

"Hi," he says shyly, barely lifting his eyes to hers. Percy pats Frank comfortingly on the shoulder.

"I'll be back, okay?"

"But curfew!" Frank calls after him. Percy ignores this.

He's expecting to have to hunt around the castle to find Annabeth, but when he climbs out of the portrait hole, she's sitting right outside of it, leaning against Piper. Her eyes are vacant, her expression hollow, as she stares down at the floor.

"Percy!" Piper looks relieved. "Hey. I need your help."

"I'm getting that," he says, eyes still on Annabeth. "What's up?"

"She got a letter from her dad and she… I don't know… You're her best friend. Fix it."

He's startled by the idea that he is Annabeth's best friend and Piper isn't, but now that he thinks about it, he realizes that she's probably right. Annabeth and Piper are friends, and they certainly have a good time together, but she always sits next to him at meals and studies with him in the library and supports Hufflepuff when they're playing Slytherin or Gryffindor.

"Thanks, Piper," he says, grasping Annabeth's elbow in his hand. "Have a good night."

His firm voice tells Piper that it's okay for her to leave now, so she flashes him a weak, grateful smile before scurrying away towards the Gryffindor tower. Percy, on the other hand, walks Annabeth in the opposite direction, leading her with his hand.

"So what are you pissed off about?" he asks, his voice clear. She looks up, eyes bewildered. In the light of the candles that line the wall of the candle, her gray eyes seem to move like liquid.

"What are you talking about, Percy?"

"You're _mad_," he says clearly. "Angry. Why?"

Her mouth parts slightly, uncertain of how to react. For a moment, Percy watches the myriad of emotions flit across Annabeth's expression. He tries to keep his face supportive, knowing that she doesn't need to be scared out of her vulnerability.

"I thought my parents were going to get back together," she says finally. "Did you know that? For a couple of years, they were both civil to each other, and whenever they met, they treated each other exactly how they did when they were married. They were cool towards each other, casual. Indifferent. And I thought that it meant that they were still in love because I didn't realize that the marriage that they had _wasn't _love. It was arranged. Not specifically, but by society. Pureblood norms, you could say. And when I see him with the new wife that he loves and the kids that aren't purebloods, it makes my blood boil. Because I'm the product of this marriage that he never wanted, whereas they are… they are his in a whole sense. In a way that I never will be."

"So you're pissed off because you think that he doesn't love you as much as he loves them."

"I don't think that, Percy. I know. Every time I write him, his letters get shorter. He doesn't talk about me or ask me about myself. It's all her, and them. And he never asks me to stay with them, even when I hint and I hint and…"

She trails off, and he knows that her next thought must be really bad if she isn't able to say it to him.

"What?"

They've stopped walking, and they're so close to each other. He can see everything she is feeling on her face, maybe for the first time since they've known each other. They're Percy and Annabeth. He makes stupid jokes that everybody laughs at and she chides him for their lack of artful craftsmanship in spite of the fact that she's laughing on the inside. She gets good grades because she tries harder than anyone he's ever known, but she expects more of herself too, and then she tries to teach him how to do the things that he cannot figure out how to do on his own. He tells her that she's smart and pretends to be angry about it and she tells him that he's an idiot even though she doesn't mean it. That's just how they are- what they do.

But they don't usually get into the deep, nitty gritty aspects of their personalities, and on some level, Percy is glad Annabeth is doing it first.

"I want to get revenge. Punish him for not thinking that I'm good enough for him."

"You are good enough for him. Better than him, actually."

"I think you're right. But I want to hurt him into seeing it, and that's my problem. That's what I'm mad about. I wish that I could just not care about him instead of letting him rile me up like this. I'm angry that he contributes to my imperfections."

Percy wonders exactly how much time Annabeth spends analyzing herself. She must have picked apart every little piece by now. The thought wrenches him.

"You mean the cut on your upper lip?"

"What?"

"And the way you always pronounce the word 'integral' wrong?"

She glares reproachfully at him, but Percy lets a small smile creep onto his face.

"We've all got stuff like that, Annabeth." For some reason, he can't look at her right now. He digs his hands deep into his pockets and lets his foot scrape back and forth on the floor. Percy feels older than his age, but then he's glad about that because it means that he's going to be able to say what he needs to say to her. "I have a scar on my eyebrow and I pronounce the word 'façade' wrong every time I say it even though I _know _that I'm not saying it right. And when I was ten, I got so angry at my dad that I decided it would be a good idea to punch a wall."

He looks up for the first time, seeing her studying him intently.

"You did?"

"And my mom couldn't afford to get it fixed so she had to buy a poster to cover it so that nobody would see."

Percy hadn't meant to be so candid about their financial status to her, but he can't take it back now and a part of him knows that she won't ridicule him for it even though she's from a completely different station in life.

He trusts her.

"We're all crappy people," he points out, shooting her a lopsided smile to punctuate his statement. "Just don't let that measly little fact ruin your life, I guess."

"You guess?" she teases, starting to smile.

"I'm all out of maturity for the day," Percy laughs. "Would you care for a fart joke?"

"Ugh, no. Save it for Jason."

"Jason doesn't like them either. Grover, on the other hand-"

"Hufflepuffs," Annabeth sighs dramatically, shaking her head. "The lot of you are ridiculous."

"Oh, and Ravenclaws aren't?"

"We're ridiculous in a more dignified way," Annabeth tells him, nodding her head importantly.

"Well, you're not going to have much dignity left if you're caught out in the corridors after bedtime and get a detention."

"That's a good point." She doesn't look worried, though. "Goodnight, Percy."

"'Night, Annabeth."

She pauses, uncertain, before darting forward and kissing him on the cheek.

"Thanks for making me smile."

Just because she's looking at her shoes when she says it, doesn't make it any less awesome.

(ooo)

"You're stirring the wrong way."

He looks up from the top of their potion to see Annabeth, her book positioned carefully above the cauldron, staring critically down at the contents of it.

"No I'm not!" Percy protests. "It said clockwise."

"And you're stirring counterclockwise."

He frowns before letting his eyes drift down to the direction of the large wooden spoon that he is using to stir the contents of the pewter cauldron.

"Oh. I was, um, looking at it in the mirror."

Annabeth starts laughing.

"Percy."

He looks sheepish as he begins to stir in the other direction. Okay, so he hadn't really been looking. Potions has never been his best class, and if he's being honest, he usually depends on Annabeth to catch his mistakes before he can screw something up so royally that there's no going back.

"Do you have the armadillo bile in your kit?" Annabeth asks, rummaging through it. "I can't find it anywhere."

"Oh, yeah, that," Percy responds, trying not to smile. "I may have used that to make Grover fall down the stairs."

Annabeth doesn't know whether to laugh or scold, so she settles for quirking her lips up while saying his name in a voice that she considers to be properly offended.

"And why, exactly, did you make Grover fall down the stairs?"

"It was because he had turned my hair blue with a spell and I wanted to get him back for it, if you must know."

"Your hair hasn't been blue this year," Annabeth observes as she triumphantly pulls armadillo bile out of her own potions kit.

"I got Professor Chiron to change it back before I went down to breakfast. And Grover is fine, you'll notice. We called it even on prank wars and I can even sleep with both eyes closed now."

Annabeth shakes her head, her ponytail swishing back and forth behind her. She doesn't wear her hair down anymore; Percy wonders why she keeps it so long if she doesn't like it. Annabeth always has it tied back somehow- in a braid or a bun or a ponytail behind her head.

He wonders if it's normal to observe so much about one person.

"I thought you liked the color blue."

Her words pull him out of his thought process, and Percy struggles to recalibrate himself in the real world.

"I like turtles, but that doesn't mean I want to be one," Percy retorts. "Hazel likes horses, but that doesn't mean-"

"Okay!" Annabeth chuckles. "I get it. You win."

He pauses for a moment.

"Is that the first time you've ever said that to me?"

Her hands don't still on the bat wing that she is chopping into fine little pieces.

"Said what?"

"That I _win_."

"It probably is," she says smoothly, effortlessly scraping the wings off of the cutting board and into the potion. They both stare at it anxiously until it turns the dark red color that the textbook promises. When it does, Annabeth sits back, satisfied with herself. She turns to look at Percy again. "After all, I don't let you win a lot."

"Okay, I agree that you're right more often than not," Percy admits. "But still. I must have corrected you on something over the course of our friendship. Something. Anything."

"Professor Dionysius!"

Her hand is high in the air as she calls him over. Percy recoils at the annoyed look that their Professor gives the two of them, but Annabeth just gives him a pretty smile, coaxing him over to their work area.

"Did you finish?" he asks as he sidles up.

"Yes," Annabeth nods, "and I think that you should add an addendum to the written instructions the next time you teach this potion, sir. You can skip step two if you just double the amount in step three and add a smidge of flobberworm mucus."

Idly, Percy ponders the difference between being smart and being a perfectionist. He wonders where Annabeth lies on that line. Then he wonders how she's lucky enough not to have been punched in the face by Professor Dionysius. Yet.

**Third Year**

He thinks it's ridiculous that there was a time in his life when he thought he could actually fancy Annabeth. He doesn't fancy _Annabeth_. She's his best friend, so obviously he could never be in love with her. He brought a blue cake to her house on her birthday because she's his best friend. He wants to spend every possible moment of his day with her because she's his friend. He wants to make her laugh and make her smile because she's his friend.

When he sits at the Hufflepuff table during the opening feast and she sits at the Ravenclaw table, he actually misses her. Yeah, they'd seen each other on the train. But the opening and closing feasts are the only two times that people bother with the constructs of sitting at their House tables, and because of this, their group of friends is scattered all around the Great Hall. Percy raises his hand in greeting when he sees Annabeth looking at him, and she smiles and sticks her tongue out at him. He purposefully spins around on the bench, sitting up prim and proper as though teasing Annabeth for her casual nature.

She's his best friend, and that's all that matters.

(ooo)

The walk down to the Care of Magical Creatures hut isn't long, but it's lengthy enough that Percy doesn't want to take it alone. When his watch beeps, alerting him to the fact that he has a half an hour to get to class, he hops off of his bed, places his robes over his right arm, and then makes his way to the Ravenclaw tower.

Annabeth is just leaving when he arrives, Piper and Rachel trailing behind her. Her face brightens as soon as she sees Percy, and she speeds up her steps as she approaches him.

"What did you get on the History of Magic test?" she asks in lieu of saying hello. Some of her long blond hair floats behind her, lifting in the air as she bounces closer. He loves the way it tickles his elbows once she's settled in next to him, ready to walk to class.

"An EE, thanks to you," Percy says, his voice content.

"I got an 'O,'" Annabeth brags, spreading her lips wide in a smile. Percy knows how hard she works in school; academics are important to her, but she doesn't necessarily excel in all areas without effort. Classes like DADA and Transfiguration are natural for her, but a course like History of Magic is something that she genuinely has to work hard to be able to succeed in.

He knows because he's spent several long nights in the library, reading to her or reading over her shoulder or watching her read and trying not to fall asleep to the comforting lull of the way she turns pages, being sure to lick her finger before she does so. It sounds boring, but it's one of his favorite things to do with Annabeth. He loves the glow that the soft lighting in the library casts on the features of his best friend, making her seem calmer. And he loves the way her hair falls across the table when she gets tired and lies with her head on her arm, reading the words over the tip of her nose.

"You earned it," he says, meaning it. "And thank you for all of your help."

She shrugs, modest now, which is something that she's just learned to be in the past few years. At the start of their friendship, modesty was nonexistent with Annabeth. But she's different now. Both of them are different, really.

"Thanks for _your_ help."

Percy scratches the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I didn't do anything."

"No, you did. Whenever you need help studying, you were helping me study too. Doofus."

They make their way through the castle, gliding effortlessly across the shifting staircases. It used to be scary, trying to make their way up and down, but now they know exactly what to do. Being a Hogwarts student is officially second nature.

The front doors are open in preparation for students coming and going. Even during the winter, the students are forced outside for Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and flying lessons for the first years. But it's a much more pleasant experience on a crisp day like today, and Percy gladly tightens his cloak around himself as they exit the castle and start to make their way through the greenery outside.

Annabeth takes in an enormous breath, greedily gulping the fresh air into her lungs.

"I hear we're covering unicorns in Care of Magical Creatures," she says, oblivious to the way Percy is staring at her.

"Do you think he's going to have an actual unicorn?" Percy asks. When Annabeth turns to him, her eyes are sparkling.

"There've been rumors," she says mysteriously.

"Rumors? What rumors?"

"Nothing you should concern yourself with, Jackson."

He shoves her playfully.

"You owe me!"

"Owe you?" Annabeth laughs, a bark-like sound that causes Percy to start chuckling in response. "_I _owe _you_?

"You do! After all the studying that I help you do? I'm the reason you're so successful. You're _welcome_."

(ooo)

"This plant doesn't even have magical properties! Why do we have to learn about it?"

"God you're grumpy today," Jason sighs, snapping Percy's goggles.

"It just doesn't make sense to me," grumbles Percy, making a rude face in Jason's direction.

"He's just mad because they ran out of sausage at breakfast this morning and he didn't get any for himself," Frank tells Jason, conspiring against Percy.

"How can we bear his wrath?" Piper says sarcastically. Then her eyes brighten. "Annabeth, quick! Tame the dragon."

She's bent over the seaweed, purposefully wringing out the excess water so that the plant will dry properly. They're going to be able to keep it and use it in their potions kits, so she's doing her best to meticulously dry it out.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asks evenly, making a small note in her Herbology notebook about one of the properties of the plant. "Make sausage appear out of nowhere?"

"Could you?" Percy inquires pleadingly, bumping her hip with his hip. Annabeth looks up for the first time, only to give him a disapproving glare.

"I see that you're extremely behind on your work," she says pointedly. "Maybe you should stop thinking about sausage and start thinking about seaweed."

"You're right," says Percy, looking as though the sun had suddenly come through the clouds on a cold winter day. "You're absolutely right, Annabeth. From now on, every single moment of my life will be dedicated to seaweed."

"She woke the monster," Jason stage whispers. "Pipes, she made it _worse_."

"Every day, I will wake up thinking of seaweed. I will eat it for breakfast. I will shower using it as soap-"

"Percy," groans Annabeth, trying not to laugh at his antics. She fails epically, he might add.

"At night, I will dream of seaweed, taking the ghostly fantasy of it into the very marrow of my soul until the two of us- me and seaweed- become one."

"Shut it!" Annabeth says. Percy stops talking, flashing her a goofy smile that makes her roll her eyes. "Seaweed Brain," she adds under her breath.

He perks up.

"What was that?"

"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth says more clearly, straightening her posture and looking him dead in the eye. "I called you Seaweed Brain."

(ooo)

"Do you want to come to Christmas dinner?"

He doesn't mean to say it; it just slips out before he can control himself. She's standing at the center of Honeydukes, looking at the different types of special edition Bertie Botts flavored jelly beans, set out just for the holidays. Annabeth's hand, clad in a purple glove, pauses on the display as she takes in his words. For a second, she keeps it lifted in the air. Then she lowers it to a box of jellybeans and tightens her fingers around it.

"What?"

He hesitates, so she turns around, frowning as she stares at him intently. Percy feels his stomach lurch nervously, unsure of what to do now that he's opened up this can of worms that he never meant to open. Well, maybe he had meant to. But it hadn't been something that he had considered beforehand. He's an impulsive person, but when it comes to Annabeth, he doesn't normally make comments that would cause him to put his foot in his mouth. They're so easy around each other that Percy is unused to this awkward, gnawing feeling in his stomach.

"You never seem to have a good time going between the two of your parents and I thought… I dunno… maybe you could come to Christmas dinner with me instead? And… and mum, of course. I mean, it's nothing big like you have at your mum and dad's house. I know that you have these big feasts. But we always have a really good time… we watch movies and have ham and mum figured out how to turn mashed potatoes blue a couple of years ago so-"

"Blue mashed potatoes?"

Percy stops looking at the ground and decides to look up, attempting to gauge the look on her face. She's got her head tilted to the side and her teeth are on her bottom lip, scraping it delicately.

"Yeah."

His throat feels weird- thicker- and he thinks that his eyes are going to burn from the humiliation of it all.

"How does she do it?"

"She won't tell me. I think it's illegal."

"Maybe she'll tell me."

He looks up, quirking a smile.

"Yeah?"

"Yes. I'll try to worm it out of her using my pureblood charms that I learned so well from my mother."

They start heading towards the exit of the store, in spite of the fact that neither have bought anything. Percy always waits until the very last minute to get his Christmas gifts, and he has no doubt that Annabeth has already sent in mail orders for hers.

"Ah, at least she's good for something," he notes darkly, tugging the door open so that she can walk through it.

It's so chilly that they can see their breaths, and as they trudge slowly through Hogsmeade, the snow crunches festively under their feet.

"Three Broomsticks?" Annabeth asks as she pulls her scarf closer to her neck, and Percy nods vigorously, suddenly desperate for a warm butterbeer. They begin to walk off in the direction of the restaurant, walking close together to keep warm. Every once in a while, Annabeth's hand will brush against Percy's, but he doesn't mind.

He doesn't mind at all.

Their friends are already in The Three Broomsticks when they arrive. Hazel catches Annabeth's eyes and waves her over, so Percy and Annabeth immediately start towards their five friends, taking off their scarves, hats, and gloves as they go. Annabeth sits down next to Piper and Percy grabs the seat right next to her, seated next to Leo.

"Where were you guys?" asks Frank, setting down his pumpkin juice. It's too late in the season for pumpkin juice, but Frank doesn't like butterbeer, something that they all tease him about.

"Honeydukes," Annabeth responds, placing her gloves in the hood on Percy's cloak to keep them together. She flashes him a thankful smile when he doesn't say anything about it. "I wanted to get some Bertie Botts for my step-brothers, but I'm thinking that maybe I won't be seeing them over the course of the holiday."

Percy doesn't say anything about that in spite of the soaring feeling that he's got in his stomach. Instead, he turns to Jason and claps his hands together, rubbing them against each other for dramatic effect.

"So I see that you're nearly done with your butterbeer."

Jason stares at him suspiciously.

"And you owe me for letting you copy my DADA homework…"

"Which you got the answers for _from me,_" Annabeth coughs in a way that is not at all meant to be subtle.

"So you should get both of us a butterbeer."

"That would be the polite thing to do," Piper says, nodding seriously. "As well as getting me another one."

Jason grunts in annoyance as he launches himself up from the table and towards the bar. Annabeth gives Percy a little high five where his hand is resting on his thigh under the table.

"To laziness!" they toast when Jason comes back with their drinks.

"You should be glad that none of you are roommates with me," he mutters. "I would find you at night and do bad things to your hair."

"Oh, you mean what you do to your own hair? Yeah, I am glad!"

Percy doesn't think he's ever gotten a glare so intense.

(ooo)

Their feet are too loud on the stone steps that lead to the basement. Although Annabeth moves smoothly in her flat shoes, Percy's trainers clomp loudly against the large, gray stairs. She glances over at him and rolls her eyes, but he just lifts a finger dramatically to his lips and makes a shushing motion at her.

"Oh, you're telling _me_ to shush?" Annabeth asks in a harsh whisper. "I'm not the one making all of the noise."

"I could see it in your eyes," Percy argues, "that you were about to talk."

"Stop looking at my eyes and maybe you won't make the same mistake again."

"But if I did that, how would I be able to see the awe that you feel whenever you gaze upon my face?"

She glances over her shoulder one last time before they steadily begin to approach the portrait of the bowl of fruit.

"Are you sure you're not mixing up the word 'awe' with the word 'revulsion'?"

"Pretty sure, yeah."

"Might wanna glance in a dictionary," Annabeth advises as she lifts a finger and tickles the pear. It giggles before turning into a door handle, which Percy unceremoniously grabs and hauls open.

It's not the first time they've snuck down into the kitchen, but usually they bring their friends with them. Tonight, however, everybody has gone to bed and Annabeth and Percy are stuck studying for their Ancient Runes test tomorrow. Piper, Jason, and Rachel had all had the foresight to take Divination while Percy and Annabeth toiled away in Ancient Runes. He had told Annabeth that he just wasn't interested in the "inner eye," but in reality, he didn't want to bother being in a class that she wasn't in when there was a chance that they could continue to help each other study. It makes sense to him, and he hadn't missed the grateful smile that she had offered him when they had selected their courses.

But they've been avoiding studying by playing seven back to back games of pick up Quidditch, and the result of this is staying up until midnight in the library, frantically trying to avoid being caught by the teachers. Annabeth has a new invisibility cloak made out of Demiguise, an expensive gift that will only last her a decade but is still useful while they're at school. Her mother had given it to her for Christmas, and Annabeth has already used it several times to aid Percy in his ongoing prank war with Grover, Jason, and Leo.

It would probably be easier to just study in their respective common rooms- after all, they could get detention from still wandering around the school at this time of night- but Percy and Annabeth are accustomed to studying together, and they've gotten into such a good pattern that it seems pointless to waste it. Studying without each other just doesn't seem to make sense anymore. At 12:30, however, their eyes are beginning to water with fatigue and Percy feels like somebody just put a brick on top of his head. It had seemed pretty evident that they needed a snack.

Once they have a basket of food, Annabeth begins to head off to the tallest tower in the building, where they have their astronomy lessons. It seems obvious that they need some fresh air, even though the air is still a bit chilly from the winter. Once more, it seems that her steps are feather-light while Percy's slam against the floors of Hogwarts. Annabeth cuts him a glare, but Percy just shrugs guiltily and gives her a weak smile.

"It's your fault if we get caught," Annabeth whispers furiously. They're almost at the tower now, and when they're more than halfway there, it feels a bit safer to talk.

"Actually, it's your fault," Percy corrects. "I may be loud, but you're the one who chose to become friends with me. Therefore, if we get caught, it would technically be your fault, because it was your idea to befriend me and lure me up to the astronomy tower late at night."

"You're evil," Annabeth sighs, dragging her willow wand out of the waistband of her school skirt and directing it towards the door. "_Alohomora!"_ she hums, and the lock clicks before the door springs open towards them.

Once they're inside and the door is closed, they speak normally again. Annabeth begins to place the food methodically on the floor, dividing it evenly between the two of them. She doesn't say anything when Percy snatches the custard creams out of her hand before she can place them on her side.

Annabeth neatly arranges her skirt before crossing her legs and picking up a pastry between two delicate fingers. Percy, on the other hand, grabs a tart and shoves it into his mouth, moaning loudly as the raspberry explodes across his tongue.

"Percy!" Annabeth protests, her eyes wide. "You can't moan right now! They're going to think-"

She stops talking as her cheeks begin to burn red. Realizing what she's getting at, Percy lets a lazy smile stretch across his face.

"They're going to think what, Annabeth Chase?"

"Um. Nothing."

"Oh, c'mon, Wise Girl. You know everything. What are they going to think?"

She fiddles with her skirt nervously.

"Um?"

Percy loosens his Hufflepuff tie and stretches back, yawning hugely.

"I'll wait. I have all night."

"You're actually going to make me say it?"

"Mhhhmm."

"You _know_, Percy."

He finally takes pity on her.

"Well, I can think of one thing that you might be thinking about, but I know that you're not."

"And why is that?"

"Because both of us are too smart to get cooties, Annabeth. It's a ridiculous suggestion."

"You're a ridiculous suggestion," she mutters darkly, throwing a biscuit at him.

He catches it and eats it, ignoring the murderous look on her face.

**Fourth Year**

"So it looks like I'm finally taller than you."

He says it offhandedly one day, not counting on the flare that it would bring to her eyes. When Annabeth looks up from her Transfiguration homework, he can tell that he's pissed her off. They're sitting in the library and Percy is practicing wand movements while Annabeth etches her handwriting neatly onto a piece of parchment with a long, black feathered quill that her father had given her.

"So?" she says, quirking an eyebrow. "Why should I care?"

He fumbles with his wand for a moment and the wood almost slips from between his fingers when he sees the cold look that Annabeth is giving him. It seems to slip away from him all at once- why _did_ he say that? Why does it matter? There's no reason why Annabeth should be interested in the fact that he's taller than her. And it's just by a little bit; it's nothing that most people would bother to notice. He doesn't even know why he noticed.

"I don't know," Percy mumbles, face suddenly burning bright red. "I guess I just thought it was… notable."

She sets down her quill and stares off into a distant corner of the library for a moment. The only movement that she makes is her fingers kneading together on the surface of the desk.

"We're growing up," she says quietly, and when she looks down at her hands, her long, blond eyelashes flutter with her movement. For a moment, Percy just focuses on them, and how pretty they are. "It's… strange. I don't like it."

"You're going to be fine," Percy says. "Just because you're shorter than me, doesn't mean you're a failure in life."

She gives him an exasperated look that lets him know that she wasn't just talking about height. He's glad that he isn't sitting next to her because Percy's reasonably certain that she would have shoved him had he been in shoving distance.

"No, it's just… everything seems to be happening really quickly. We're at the halfway point in our Hogwarts careers and I'm already panicking about what I'm going to do when we get out of here."

"That's because you're Annabeth," Percy observes. "You do that because you're _you_. But everybody else knows that you're going to leave this place and take the world by storm."

"Do you know what you want, though?"

He raises one of his eyebrows while keeping the other one low, creating a comical look on his face.

"I'm going to answer your question with a question: do you know what you want?" She shakes her head. "Well, if you don't know what you want, how could you possibly expect me to know what _I _want?"

Annabeth laughs in disbelief.

"Your future goals don't have to piggyback mine, Percy."

"Oh, that's not what I was commenting on."

"No?"

"I just meant that it would be kind of dumb to assume that I could get my life together before you got yours together."

"Oh. Of course. Duh."

"You know what they say about assuming, Annabeth Chase."

He leans across the table, lifting himself out of his chair so that his elbows are right in front of her. This close to her gray eyes, he feels like he can see the storm that brews within them. He likes staring at the tiny intricacies of her irises, so instead of pushing back, he just remains there, studying her closely.

"Please don't say it," she teases, but her voice doesn't sound as strong and sarcastic as it usually does when she's discouraging his bad behavior. "I'd have to storm out of this library and I happen to be extremely comfortable right now."

Only now can Percy find the strength to push back, and he does so with a laugh that just comes out awkward. The two of them stare at each other from across the table, not knowing what to say.

He is fourteen years old and he _cannot_ fancy his best friend.

(ooo)

Percy almost drops the quaffle when he hears the words leave Jason's lips.

"Er- what?"

"I said," Jason replies, throwing the quaffle back to him, "you fancy Annabeth."

"I most certainly do not fancy Annabeth!" Percy says indignantly, throwing the quaffle a little bit harder than usual. Jason gives him a disbelieving look. "What? I don't."

They have the Quidditch pitch to themselves because it's freezing cold outside and nobody in their right mind wants to be outside playing Quidditch. But Jason and Percy both want to get onto their House teams, and doing so means practicing all of the time. Which is why they're sitting on brooms in the freezing weather, tossing a ball back and forth. And apparently, Jason thinks that this is a good time to talk about Percy's relationship with Annabeth. Which totally makes sense. Yeah.

"You don't fancy her," comes Jason's flat reply. "Sure, fine. Then you won't mind if I ask her to go to Hogsmeade with me, then."

His stomach swoops with anxiety and his chest suddenly starts to feel cold.

Percy throws the quaffle so hard that it slams into Jason's chest, nearly knocking him off of his broom. Jason swears loudly as he catches his breath, and Percy zooms down to retrieve the quaffle, which is now soaring towards the ground at an alarming speed, having used Jason's chest as a diving board.

"I WAS JOKING!" Jason shouts in his direction, coughing and laughing at the same time. Percy directs his broom back towards Jason, contemplating flying at him and mowing him down, school rules be dammed. "I wanted to see how you would react- and I was right."

"You're not right!" Percy refutes. He can feel his face starting to turn red. Jason just flashes him a knowing smile. "You're _not_. Ask her out! It's fine! Go ahead. Have fun."

"You're an idiot," Jason says, nodding wisely in Percy's direction. He starts to tilt his broom downward, motioning that Percy should follow.

"I'm going to stay and do a couple of laps," he says, not trusting himself to be on the ground with Jason.

And it's not because he's upset about the Annabeth thing. He just wants to get in a few laps around the Quidditch pitch. Because, really, why would he be upset about Jason taking his best friend to Hogsmeade? Everybody in their year is starting to pair off now and it shouldn't be surprising if Jason wants to do the same. With Annabeth. Percy's best friend.

They'd probably have a great time in Hogsmeade together. They'd hang out, and have lots of fun, and then they would end up spending tons of time together after that. Jason would join Percy and Annabeth in the library when they study every night, but instead of being reluctant to go back at curfew, they would head back to the Ravenclaw common room before then because they would have each other. And at the end of the night, Annabeth and Jason would vanish behind the large wooden door with the ornate knocker and Percy would not be able to follow them, which is probably good because they'll spend all of their time snogging in that common room anyways.

He's going to die alone. And, worse? He's going to lose Annabeth as his best friend.

No. _No! _He's not going to die alone and he's certainly not going to lose Annabeth. One day they're going to start dating people, and then they're going to grow up and leave Hogwarts and get married and have kids, and that doesn't mean that they have to lose each other. It just means that their lives are going to change a little bit. But they're fourteen right now. They don't need to worry about that yet.

The future is far, far away.

(ooo)

"The future is right around the corner," Professor Stoll reminds them as he passes back their quizzes. "It is extremely important to begin thinking about what you want to do with your future. Certain jobs require specific qualifications, and therefore, when studying for your O. , you should add extra focus in certain content areas."

A glance at Frank shows that he's experiencing a look of panic that is similar to the panic that Percy is feeling. O. are more than a year away! Why would they be worrying about them right now?

"Of course, all areas in which you are taught at Hogwarts are crucial in being a functioning wizard in our society. You need to put copious amounts of time into studying everything that you'll need to know for your O.W.L exams. Failure is not an option. You will notice that the teachers in your main subjects will be giving your more work than usual. Yes, school is about to become even more rigorous and time consuming than it has in the past. There's very little time until you take the O. , just about a year, so now is the time to begin preparing yourself."

He stops pacing the classroom long enough to see the entire classroom of fourth years looking at him with shock on their faces. They don't usually get pep talks, admittedly, and nobody is ready to talk about fifth year yet. Fifth year is hell year. This is fourth year. Fourth year is supposed to suck way less.

"What?" Professor Stoll says, looking only a little bit guilty. "I'm just the messenger!"

(ooo)

He happens upon her sitting on a window seat in a random alcove somewhere between the Hufflepuff dorms and the Ravenclaw tower. It's purely coincidental that they're both there at the same time, but it doesn't stop Percy from sneaking up behind her and pressing two fingers into her sides. Annabeth shrieks and whirls around, her long blond ponytail slapping Percy in the face. As he splutters and spins away from her, she rams her book into his arm, causing him to catapult himself into the wall.

"Ow!" yelps Percy, grabbing the wall to keep from falling down. "Merlin, Annabeth!"

"You scared me!" she shrieks at him, her cheeks still red with surprise. "And you are not allowed to poke me ever again. Ever."

"Hello to you too," grumbles Percy, rubbing his arm where Annabeth hit him with her large, heavy textbook.

"Stop being a baby," she tells him, jutting her chin at the arm. Percy's mouth drops open.

"A _baby_? Annabeth, you attacked me with a book! It hurts."

"You're fine," she scoffs.

He stares at her, face tense for a moment, before shaking his head and letting his robes fall off of his arms. After reaching behind his neck to pull his gray Hogwarts jumper over his head, he is left in a short sleeved undershirt and a bare arm that proudly displays an enormous red mark.

"Do you see?" demands Percy, thrusting his arm in her direction. "See what you did to me?"

She inspects it carefully.

"Are you sure _I _did that? Lots of people want to punch you in the arm. Leo does it quite a lot, you know."

He laughs, reaching to the floor to grab his jumper and tug it back over his head.

"And by the way," Percy adds, watching as Annabeth turns around and begins collecting the school things that are scattered all around the floor, "why did you attack me the muggle way? You know that you're a witch, right?"

"It was my first instinct," Annabeth admits, a small smile stretching across her lips. He can tell that she's proud of herself and is trying hard not to show him exactly how thrilled she is. "And if the red mark on your arm is any indication, I did a damn good job. As a matter of fact, could you leave the robes off? I want people to see my marksmanship."

"No way. I'd be a human target."

"No more than usual, what with your general Seaweed Brain-ness and all that."

"Haha," he replies drily. "Very funny, Annie."

"What did you just call me?"

"Oh, nothing at all. Beth."

"Percy, you stop it right now!"

"Sure thing. Anna."

"You know I hate nicknames."

"Yes, I'm aware. Beth."

This time, she actually does use magic to curse him. As he's standing in the middle of the hallway, watching her walk away and feeling a thousand hands viciously tickle his body simultaneously, Percy actually feels kind of proud of her.

(ooo)

It's been raining for weeks, courtesy of their lovely Scotland weather, and Percy just wants to get out of the castle. However, it's also a lazy Sunday, and their group specializes in lazy Sundays. Currently, they're all spread out across the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, where they've been ever since lunch. Leo and Frank are playing a rousing game of Exploding Snap, already having nearly burnt off their eyebrows several times. Jason and Piper are playing wizard's chess with Annabeth's new set; they're bent low over the table, with their eyes narrowed and their brows creased as though this will help them catch every detail. Hazel, Grover, and Rachel are pouring over a divination textbook and discussing different techniques for the subject.

Percy just wants to play Quidditch.

"Does anybody want to have a fly?" he asks to the general group, even though he doesn't feel very hopeful. Getting them to move on lazy Sunday is nearly impossible.

Unsurprisingly, his question is met with general silence. Percy sighs and reaches into his bag to pull out some paper, hoping to doodle on it if he can't think of anything else to do. When he resurfaces from under the table, Annabeth is looking at him, her finger marking her spot in the book.

"When was the last time we raced?" she wonders out loud, her eyes on his face.

Percy shakes his head as he tries to think.

"A while, I guess. You won."

"Well," Annabeth says, smirking. "I always win."

"Is that a challenge, Chase?"

"I think it is, Jackson."

They get up at the same time.

"Bye!" Annabeth calls over her shoulder.

"We'll be back soon!" Percy informs their friends.

They barely even raise their hands to acknowledge a goodbye.

Annabeth goes to grab her expensive broom from the Ravenclaw tower and, when she returns, is holding a second broom in her other hand. Percy raises his eyebrows.

"It's Jason's," she admits. "I wanted the race to be fair. Can't allow you to lose to me while on a subpar broom."

"Awww," says Percy, "You snuck into the boy's dorm just so I could beat you on a better broom? Bless you, Annabeth."

The Quidditch pitch is mercifully empty when they get there, as most kids are lounging on the grass to enjoy the first dry day in a while, or, in the case of the upperclassmen, studying furiously instead of enjoying the post-lunch lolling about that most Hogwarts students choose to partake in on Sundays.

They practically sprint to the field, slightly winded by the time they get there and get their running jumps onto their broomsticks. For a moment, Percy just savors the feeling of being able to soar through the air, feeling the wind flying through his hair. He's actually flying, and it's something that will never cease to amaze him.

Annabeth does not share the same amazement.

"Five times around the pitch," she says in a professional voice, hovering by one of the goalposts. "If you bump into a goalpost, you have to start that lap over."

"Please," Percy responds, rolling his eyes. "Neither of us are amateurs, Annabeth."

"Fine. Whoever reaches the goalpost first wins. On the final lap, you have to touch it so that there's no mistaking of a tie, in case it's that close. Ready?"

"Yep," Percy says, voice cocky even though he's never beat her in one of these races. She's had far more practice than he has even if she doesn't savor flying as much as he does. "Let's go."

He doesn't plan on beating her- he really doesn't. He never has before, and he's more than happy to see the rosy pink that tinges that she gets when she's excited about something. He likes seeing the giant smile on her face when she wins, even when she's gloating about something. He likes the pat on the back that she gives him, letting her hand linger for a little longer than necessary, and he always analyzes it for several minutes after she does it because best friends don't let their hands linger on other friends' backs. Right?

Percy totally doesn't mean to beat her, which is why they're both taken aback when it happens.

He drifts slowly to the ground, a strange feeling of regret mixing with the euphoria in his stomach. Annabeth follows more quickly than he does, clambering off of her broom far more gracelessly than she usually does. Despite the fact that she didn't win, she still looks beautiful. Her face is bright from the exercise, her hair is windswept and tangled, which is a look that the public rarely gets to see on Annabeth Chase, and a gloriously enormous smile is on her lips.

"That was phenomenal, Percy!" she praises, her voice loud and deliriously happy. "The way you took those corners was unbelievable. You've been practicing a ton, haven't you?"

"Yeah," he replies slowly, trying to comprehend her mood. Annabeth isn't usually happy when she loses. Not that she loses a lot. Or ever. "I actually read some of the books that you gave me about flying technique and I learned some good body positions for rounding corners."

"It definitely worked!" Annabeth praises. "I think that you could make the House team next year for Hufflepuff."

He's still not smiling, even while she radiates her glee onto him.

"That's cool," Percy says, and Annabeth frowns, biting her lower lip. He can't look at her. He turns around and starts to walk away.

"Percy?" comes her questioning voice, and he feels her hand on his arm.

He doesn't want to turn around. How is he supposed to explain that he was looking forward to the consoling pat on the back and the way she would sympathetically meet his eyes? But when her hand clasps more tightly around his arm, he turns around anyways because it's not in his nature to refuse Annabeth Chase anything.

Which is why he doesn't refuse when her lips quickly meet his and mash forcefully against them.

Well, that's one reason.

Among other things.

Annabeth is kissing him.

_Kissing_ him.

And her hand is still on his arm while the other one twists into the fabric of her skirt, and that's when Percy realizes that his eyes are still open so he makes the conscious decision to close them, leaning further into the feeling of her lips pressed against his as his hands hang uselessly at his sides.

When she pulls back, he wishes that he had kept his eyes closed so that he didn't have to see the look of horror in her expression.

They both run off in separate directions.

**Fifth Year**

They've never gone this long without talking to each other, and now that Percy knows what kissing can do to a relationship, he has decided that he never wants to kiss Annabeth again. Ever. After all, when she had run off that day, panic in her eyes, he hadn't thought that it would lead to an entire summer without any communication. He hadn't written her because he hadn't wanted to seem like he was hitting on her or trying to get her to go out with him, and he has a feeling that she hadn't written him because she feels ashamed of what she's done.

That said, it's with less enthusiasm than usual that Percy pushes his cart into the brick wall that will lead him and his mother onto platform 9 ¾. It's buzzing with cheerful, excited voices and teeming with Percy's fellow Hogwarts students, and normally the sight would make his heart explode with delight. But today, all he can do is keep his eyes open, waiting for Annabeth to appear and find out how they're going to approach the situation. She's always been the alpha in their friendship, so it makes sense that she's going to lead the way. She's the one that hadn't spoken to him after she'd kissed him _on the mouth_, so to Percy, it had only made sense to not speak to her either.

He takes her cues. He always has.

If his mum has noticed, she doesn't say anything. She hasn't asked about Annabeth all summer- not since he had come home from school and promptly dropped himself onto his bed, allowing his frustrated, angry yell to be swallowed by his pillow. He spent a lot of the summer near his pillow. It's always there for him. It's dependable.

Of course, he'd also gone to one of Rachel's vacation houses with their friends, and he had been genuinely expecting Annabeth to be there as well. When he casually tried to ask why, Rachel had given him a sympathetic smile and told him that Annabeth had declined the invitation.

"Percy!"

The female voice that leaps up to him isn't Annabeth, so Percy is able to take his time turning around to look at Hazel.

"Hey," he says, voice disheartened at the sight of her.

"Not the girl you wanted to see?" she asks knowingly, and she gives him a sad little smile when she sees the angst on his face.

"Nothing personal," Percy says as he nods.

"I know," Hazel replies. "She's going to have to talk to you eventually, Percy."

Their friends don't know what happened, but they do know that it got really weird really fast between Percy and Annabeth, and that's probably enough to figure it out on their own. Of course, Percy doesn't know who would ever assume that he and Annabeth would kiss each other. It's so out of the blue.

Hazel has turned to his mum and begun a conversation about a television program that they both watch, so Percy has the chance to look for Annabeth. His green eyes dart purposefully around the platform, skimming desperately for the person that he's been missing since the end of the year last year. When his gaze lands on her, she's already looking at him.

Percy wonders if it's coincidental that she's biting her bottom lip.

When Annabeth sees him looking at her, her first instinct is to lock her jaw and square her shoulders. When he makes no movement to walk towards her, instead staring at her, she lets out a breath and starts making her way towards him. As she walks, he observes a shiny prefect badge resting right above her left breast. He also observes the fact that her face seems older- much more mature than it had the last time he saw her. He wonders if he looks any different.

It wouldn't be surprising if she grew up and left him behind.

"Hello, Percy," Annabeth says stiffly. "Hi, Mrs. Jackson."

"Hi, Annabeth," Percy's mum says, her brows knitting together with concern. "Did you have a good summer?"

The 'no' is on the tip of her tongue, but at the sight of Percy's eyes clamped onto her, Annabeth tightens her jaw again.

"Um, yes. I suppose. It was alright." Which in polite pureblood means 'it was utter and complete shit.' Percy bites back a smile. "Listen, Percy, I have to get on the train to do my prefect duties. But I was wondering if we could talk before then?"

His throat starts to feel thick, but all he can do is nod and reach up to kiss his mum goodbye.

"Have a good year," she whispers in his ear, her voice musical. He loves her voice. "I love you."

"I love you more," he promises, even though she rolls her tear-filled eyes. "I'll see you at Christmas."

Annabeth helps him hoist his trunk onto the train, and as they get onboard early, there are several empty compartments to choose from. Annabeth picks one on the left side of the train and holds the door open for Percy, giving him a weak smile as he passes her. When the door closes, she is all business.

"So," she says, "I think we need to address what happened last year."

Percy sits down on a chair, his face neutral.

"Okay."

Annabeth takes a breath.

"Percy… I'm so sorry. I never should have done that. I have no idea what came over me. I got caught up in the moment and lost my head. It's all my fault and I promise that I will never do that to you again. Our friendship is just too important to screw up over something as stupid as a random, spur of the moment… you know. So… please forgive me."

His throat feels like it has peanut butter in it as he nervously swallows and then scratches the back of his neck. For a moment, he wonders why she can't even say the word 'kiss.' Then he ponders if anything in her statement had left an opening for him to say something about it- to start a discussion. Then he realizes that he'd much rather have her back as a friend than be able to kiss her again.

"Of course I forgive you," he says, allowing a fake smile onto his lips. He hopes that it seems more genuine than it feels, because while he's glad that he has her friendship back, there's a small part of his heart that feels like it's breaking.

"Thank you!" Annabeth exclaims, leaning forward to hug him. She changes her mind at the last moment and reaches out her hand to shake his instead. "I have to go to the prefect compartment, but I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay," he replies, the smile still plastered onto his face.

As she exits the compartment and he sits down on the seat, the words _I promise that I will never do that to you again_ ring through his head in an endless loop.

(ooo)

"Would you stop pacing? You're going to make the team. I know it."

He stops pacing long enough to flip her off, which just serves to make both Annabeth and Athena flash him annoyed looks.

"Okay, I get why you're pissed off, but why is your owl giving me the stink eye?"

"She's very protective of me," Annabeth coos, scratching the owl's head. "Aren't you, Athena?"

Percy wishes that there was someone to exchange a sarcastic glance with, but it's just the two of them sitting in the owlry while Annabeth catches up with Athena. If Mrs. O'Leary were here, she'd probably side with Percy, but she's a cat and cats only understand their own sarcasm. As it is, he's reasonably positive that she's curled up somewhere in the yellow folds of his bedcovers, taking her 80th nap of the day.

"Whatever. I'm still going to pace."

He starts walking again, treading the same path over and over again as the anxiety rolls in his stomach.

"Percy. You're going to make the team."

"How do you know?"

"I just know!"

"Did they say something about me?"

Annabeth gives him a look.

"No, Percy. No they did not."

Percy racks his hands through his hair, making it even messier.

"Why aren't you nervous?" he demands, turning to Annabeth. Her tryouts had been yesterday, and she hasn't shown a single sign of weakness since they had taken place. "Did Jason guarantee you a place on the team or something?"

"He's not captain," Annabeth reminds him. "He's only been on the team for half a year!"

Jason had gotten onto the Ravenclaw House team because one of their keepers had fallen off of his broom when going for a particularly spectacular save in a game against Slytherin. He had needed to be replaced for his physical injuries and then, because he was a seventh year, had decided that he didn't want to play anymore. Jason Grace had, per usual, gracefully answered the call.

"Still. He could put in a good word for you."

"I certainly hope he does," Annabeth admits. "But that doesn't guarantee me a spot on the team, especially if I don't deserve it. He'll only put in a word if I'm the best one for the job. He doesn't play favorites like that."

"When is your list going to go up?"

"Tonight. In the common room."

"Same."

Percy finally gives up on pacing and hauls himself onto the ground next to Annabeth, wincing in pain at the feeling of hitting the hard, cold floor so hard. Annabeth doesn't say anything about it, instead choosing to put all of her focus on Athena. The gray owl seems particularly pleased at the attention that she's getting today; Percy knows that Annabeth doesn't have as much time for her at school. At home, however, when Annabeth is locked in the gigantic mansion that her mother lives in, Athena is basically the only contact she has outside of her mother and the house elves that they live with.

"Did you talk to your dad over vacation?" Percy asks, giving Athena's chin a scratch. The owl hoots in response, moving away from Percy and closer to Annabeth, who tries not to giggle at the indignant look on Percy's face. "What the hell did I do?"

"Nothing," Annabeth promises. "She's just picky like that. I guess she doesn't really approve of you."

"Approve of me? She's an… you know what, never mind. Your dad. Did you talk to him over vacation?"

Annabeth's eyes seem to turn a shade darker as she stares down at the floor.

"I didn't talk to anyone over vacation, really."

Her voice is so sad that he wants to reach over a hand to comfort her, but he doesn't do that because that would be weird and they're already in such a tentative place. It's getting easier to pretend that things are normal, but sometimes he just wants to come out and say it. Tell her that he fancies her and that he dreams about her all the time, and when he wakes up, he doesn't even realize that they're not together until halfway through brushing his teeth because it seems so real and so natural. He wants to look over and say _I like you _and have it not be weird, because he does. He _likes_ her.

"So you didn't see your dad," he surmises.

"I was… studying."

"Mhhhmm."

"And he was busy."

"Yeah."

"And, okay, it's kind of my fault."

"Okay."

She hits him on the arm.

"Percy! You weren't supposed to agree with that!"

"Well, it sort of was your fault."

"Percy!"

She looks repulsed by him, but he doesn't know what she wants him to say.

"Just because he has another family, doesn't mean he's your evil step-father, Annabeth," Percy reminds her, his voice gentle.

He feels like pushing a piece of hair back from her face and tucking it behind her ear, so he does.

"But he doesn't want me."

"Okay, so he's made some extremely shitty decisions in the past. But life is about giving people second chances. Right?"

"So if your dad came back, you would just let him into your life?" Annabeth inquires skeptically.

Percy shakes his head.

"No. But it's different."

"How?"

"He walked out when I was a baby, Annabeth. And the divorce wasn't a mutual decision- or even anything that my mum saw coming- and he never sent me birthday cards or Christmas gifts and he never tried. Your dad tries. You have to award him something for doing that."

"I never thought that my dad would look like the more attractive parent in any situation."

"Also, you never thought that I would out-logic you," Percy points out, looking a little smug as he crosses his arms over his chest. "How does it feel?"

"Please. I taught you everything you know. You're welcome, Percy."

He shoves her and she shoves him back and in that moment Quidditch doesn't seem to matter as much.

(ooo)

"We're going to beat you tomorrow."

She says it like it's most obvious thing in the world, when Percy doesn't really think it's true. Hufflepuff may not have the best House team, but neither does Ravenclaw, and he's pretty sure that they're reasonably evenly matched. Still, Percy doesn't say anything as he pulls open a tapestry that leads to a hidden passageway and allows Annabeth to duck under his arm.

"What? We totally are!"

"I'm sure," he says absently, knowing that it will drive her up the wall to hear the lack of competition in her voice.

This is totally gonna be his strategy whenever they have games against each other. He's just going to pretend like he doesn't care and it's going to rile her up so much that she'll be completely distracted during the game tomorrow and Hufflepuff will reign victorious.

Ha.

"You don't seem upset enough about the fact that we're about to kick your ass."

Her eyes are tired from spending so much time in the library, but it's fifth year and they've both emotionally prepared themselves for the hell that they're about to go through.

"Well, you beat us the last time you played us, so I guess I'm just reconciling myself to the fact that we've already had dinner tonight and there's no chance for me to go downstairs and get another slice of cake."

"…Percy?"

"Hey, do you think we could bribe the house elves into making us _blue cake_? I mean, we do have kind of a friendship going down there. We're pretty tight, us and the house elves."

They're nearing the Ravenclaw tower and Annabeth is struggling not to laugh. When they pull up to the wooden door, Annabeth hesitates before putting her hand on the knocker. She turns around to Percy, who is still standing there, trying not to stare at the way she looks when she's only illuminates by the moon coming in through the windows and the torches that are alight on the walls.

"Well, have a goodnight," Annabeth whispers, smiling at him. The grin that he gives her is kind of lopsided because of the way that she's staring at him. He wishes that he could reach out and touch her hand, but he digs his hands into his trouser pockets instead, lifting his shoulders up in an elongated shrug. His foot scuffs back and forth when he looks back up to her again, seeing her studying his movements.

"You too," he replies, far too late.

"Goodnight," she says again, savoring the word.

"Goodnight."

She's way too close to him. Before he can do anything stupid, like kiss her again and completely wreck their friendship, Percy whirls around and practically sprints down the hallway, leaving Annabeth standing behind him, alone in the corridor.

She's like a princess. A beautiful, badass warrior princess who beats people up with books and has amazing quidditch skills and is the smartest, funniest person he's ever met. He loves fighting with her, and he loves talking to her in general, and he never gets sick of her and never wants her to leave him alone. He loves watching her interact with his mum and he loves playing Quidditch with her and he even loves studying with her in the library, which is weird because he absolutely hates studying.

And he isn't sure, but he think he might actually love her.

If he is in love with her, that means that their friendship is totally destroyed anyways, right? So what cause does he have to not tell her? What's the point of not kissing her? She kissed him once, and that _has _to mean something, and she was standing so close to him in that hallway. So ridiculously close.

He changes directions without even thinking about it, and then he's sprinting the wrong way- away from the Hufflepuff living quarters and back towards the Ravenclaw tower. When he gets there, Rachel Elizabeth Dare is standing right in front of the door.

"Ha!" she says, enthralled. "I knew I was supposed to be here right now!"

Percy stops, nonplussed for the first time.

"Um, what?"

"I just had a feeling that I had to get to the tower, and I was right."

He raises his eyebrows, deterred.

"Really?"

"Really. So you want to see Annabeth, right?"

"Right! And, Rachel?"

"Yes?"

"Can you grab her fast? Before I completely lose my nerve."

She beams at him.

"Of course."

Rachel answers the riddle quickly and the door swings open for her. She disappears and Percy tries to compose any form of coherent thought in his head, jumping up and down to keep his heart pumping. There's no way he's going to be able to do this if he's calm or relaxed. He's going to do it like a normal boy: he's just going to tell her, and then see what happens, and he's going to worry about their friendship later because he _needs_ this, he's fancied her since they were eleven and they're nearly sixteen and if he hasn't gotten over her year, he isn't going to be getting over her now.

But all of his plans go out the window when Annabeth has exited the Ravenclaw common room and is standing right in front of him. Her hair, usually tied up in a bun or a ponytail or in a braid, is loose around her elbows. She's wearing soft shorts to sleep in and a Ravenclaw t-shirt and a look of confusion on her face.

"What are you doing, Seaweed Brain?" she asks, voice warm. "You're going to be out after-_mmph_."

He wasn't supposed to start off with kissing her, but his heart is pounding so fast that he can't hear anything and can't think anything and the only thing left to do is to press his lips against hers, light at first, and then, as her lips come alive underneath his, harder. He decides to place his hand in her hair, tangling it up in the curls there, and the other one is on her cheek, cupping the skin there. Annabeth, for her part, moves her hands from pressing against his chest to winding around his neck so that she can crush her body harder against his.

"I thought we said we weren't going to do that anymore?" Annabeth reminds him, pulling back breathlessly. She's smiling so hard that Percy has to kiss her again.

"I change my mind," he murmurs. "I really, really changed my mind."

"Fine by me," she says against his lips before threading her fingers into his hair and pulling him back down again.

(ooo)

"Would you stop laughing?"

He breaks away for the third time in the past five minutes to glare at Annabeth. She's biting her lip, looking guilty but not nearly chastised enough for laughing while he was kissing her. At the thunderous look on his face, she bursts out laughing again.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's just weird. I've wanted to kiss you for a really long time and now that it's actually happening it's like… you're _Percy_. And we're snogging."

She bursts out into laughter all over again while Percy stares at her in shock, thoroughly put out. She'd been happy enough to find a corridor to hide in with him after they had their second kiss, but she hasn't been able to hold it together since they started snogging and she's making it awkward. He presses his lips together, dejected.

"I'm not going to keep trying to snog you if you're going to keep laughing about it. We don't have to try a relationship. We can just be friends."

_They can't just be friends. _There's no way he'd be able to handle that now that he knows that she fancies him too. Now that he knows what it's like to kiss her and hold her and feel her breasts brush against his chest as he twists his fingers into the curls that lie at the bottom of her hair.

"No, I can do this. I can keep it together." She smiles awkwardly at him. "I want to be with you, Percy."

It's the latter statement that melts him, and his lips are immediately on hers again, coaxing her tongue into his mouth with a little bit of nonverbal communication. But as soon as she sighs into the kiss, she becomes conscious of what they're doing and starts to giggle again.

"ANNABETH!"

"Shit! I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Percy sighs. "Maybe we're just not supposed to be-"

"No!" She places a finger on his lips, stopping him. "We're supposed to be together. I just have to… I don't know… work at it?"

"Are you not attracted to me?" he asks her, stumbling over the words because they're just too awkward to get out.

"I am extremely attracted to you," Annabeth promises. "I'm just not used to this."

"Neither am I," he reveals. "Okay, hang on. I have an idea."

He stands up, stepping away from her for a moment to take off his jumper, his tie, and then his collared shirt. Annabeth's eyes widen and she bites her bottom lip.

"Oh," she says, and Percy starts to smirk.

"Quidditch," he says by way of explanation. "We've been practicing a lot lately."

Annabeth nods.

"I can certainly see that."

She looks up at him, not smiling at all. When he sits back down on the bench, directly in front of her, Annabeth's cloudy eyes don't leave his face. She leans in, eyes still wide open, and hesitates for a moment before fitting her lips to his. Something warm and tender blossoms in Percy's stomach, and he brings his hand to the side of her neck where he can feel her pulse point beating against his thumb.

This time, when Annabeth sighs, she doesn't start laughing. She just swipes her tongue over his bottom lip and allows her hands to travel off of his shoulders and onto his chest, making him moan at the feeling of her fingers dusting all over his flesh and making him feel like tantalizing feathers are ghosting over his skin.

As he tentatively moves his hand from her hip to her lower back, he has a feeling that they're going to be okay.

(ooo)

They hold hands when they walk into the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning and don't say anything as the entire table begins to gossip about the fact that Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase are officially in a relationship.

**Sixth Year**

"I missed you."

He grins and rolls his eyes as he backs her against the wall, pressing her against it as gently as he can.

"You saw me three days ago," he reminds her, lips ghosting over the skin at her neck. Annabeth sighs and puts a hand in his hair, stroking it tenderly.

"And I missed you."

Percy really likes kissing her. He likes the way they figured each other out- how to be together. They'd spent the entire summer at Percy's house, going to movies, spending time with his mum, and snogging when she wasn't at home. At first, being able to touch Annabeth whenever he wanted to- and having her do the same- seemed strange. They had spent so much time purposefully not acting like a couple. But now they are a couple, and everything is different all over again.

"Okay. I missed you too."

They're in a broom cupboard in the basement because Annabeth had been walking Percy to his dorm when they had suddenly realized that they hadn't kissed in three days. And that was completely unacceptable. But he likes being this close to her, and he's not really complaining about the size of the broom cupboard because her scent seems to be surrounding him and he's never loved lemons so much.

His jumper is hanging on a broom that's in the corner of the closet, and Annabeth's hands are now tugging his white button down out of his trousers so that she can slide her hands up the warm flesh of his back and press him closer to her. He lifts his lips back up to hers when he feels her do that, smiling into their kiss when he sucks on her tongue and she sighs into his mouth.

"Annabeth?"

"Mhhmm?"

"Do you know what you want now?"

She pulls back, tracing a finger along the side of his face.

"Like, in this moment?"

"No. Like, the future. Remember how we were talking about how we didn't know what we wanted out of life and we didn't have any plans?"

Annabeth lifts an eyebrow.

"And you're thinking about this while we're snogging? Am I boring you, Percy Jackson?" He kisses her thoroughly to prove that she most certainly is _not_ boring him. "Okay. I see your point. But that was two years ago. Why are you thinking about it now?"

"We have to pick classes tomorrow at breakfast," he tells her. Annabeth's eyes widen in realization. He wishes that he'd had the good sense to have this conversation after they were done snogging. His mind is half on what he wants in the future and half on what he wants in the present- which is, incidentally, to get Annabeth's shirt off. Although he's pretty sure that he'll want that tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after _that_, so it technically is a long term goal.

"And you don't know what you want to do?"

"Not really. No."

"Take the courses that make you want to work hard," is Annabeth's sage advice, but Percy doesn't know what to do with that because he usually studies with her and being around Annabeth seems to make him want to work harder and to do better in general. "Take the stuff that seems to have meaning behind it and isn't just about wand work for you."

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

The question seems to startle her; he can see the surprise in her eyes. Then she squints her eyes in the darkness, letting them drift away from his face and up to the ceiling. She chews on her bottom lip contemplatively and Percy leans down to kiss her, gently prying her lower lip from her teeth as he does.

"I want… this," she says clearly. "My best friend and my boyfriend. I like how they blend together like this."

"Me too," he agrees, pressing his forehead against her head.

"It just feels like we're already growing up so much… the concept of 'when I grow up' is too close, Percy. I don't want to leave this school."

"I don't either," he grouses. "Let's just stay here."

"In this broom cupboard?"

"In this broom cupboard."

They're silent for a few moments, holding each other.

"I like architecture."

Percy pulls back.

"Huh?"

"That's what I want to do when I grow up. I like buildings. I like things that are enormous and undefeatable and permanent. And I like the art of them. The way they curve and dive and the fact that they can be so pretty and so strong at the same time."

He thinks that Annabeth herself is pretty and strong, but he doesn't know if it sounds too cheesy to say it, so he kisses her forehead instead, savoring the feeling.

"That's incredible, Annabeth."

She smiles.

"I know it's not a very _magical _job, but there are Ministry architects, and people that work for the National Quidditch Association that design pitches and stadiums, and I can also work in the muggle world as well, even though I wouldn't need to use my magical background. I was thinking about going to muggle University and getting a degree. Professor Hunter told me that there are specific universities that partner with Hogwarts and allow the students to get degrees that will enable them to work in the muggle world."

"You've been researching this." He feels something odd nagging at his stomach and takes a few seconds to try to figure out what it is. "You didn't tell me that you were interested in it, but you were… researching it…"

Annabeth catches his hurt immediately and extends her neck so that she can peck his lips.

"It's not you, I promise," she says. "I just didn't really know if it was what I truly wanted and I didn't want to excite you if it wasn't. And, besides- I would be going to a muggle university and I'm not really sure how you feel about that."

"Annabeth, I'd be fine. I'm a half-blood, remember? I spent my entire childhood in the muggle world."

She makes a face.

"Oh yes. How could I forget when you annoyed me so fervently when we were first years?"

"My awe for the wizarding world was annoying?" Annabeth nods vigorously. "I would hypothesize that you were just extremely confused about how attracted your eleven-year-old self was to me and got the emotions that you were feeling swapped up with annoyance."

"You would, huh?"

"I would."

"I think you're wrong."

She peppers kisses down his jawline, moving slowly over the smooth flesh that is there. He's sixteen years old and he wishes he would have to shave more, but Annabeth doesn't seem to mind and he doesn't care because she doesn't care.

"We're going to figure this out for you, Percy," she says, placing her hand over the spot that she has just kissed. "We're going to find out what you want to do with your life. You and me. Together."

"You don't have to," mumbles Percy, looking down at the floor. Annabeth places her hands on his cheeks so that she can, lift his head up, forcing him to look directly into his eyes.

"I know I don't _have _to, Seaweed Brain. Now c'mon. We're going to get caught by the prefects if we stay out too much longer."

"Hey," he says as he moves to get his jumper. "You're a prefect. Do you have to turn us in?"

"Shut up, Jackson," Annabeth instructs.

(ooo)

"What are you doing for Christmas?"

Annabeth looks up from her Ancient Runes homework with a confused look on her face.

"Why would you ask me that?"

"Just… something I heard Piper say."

Annabeth sighs and sets down her quill.

"I'm staying here for Christmas."

He suddenly feels like somebody has dumped icy cold water over his head. All this time, he's been talking about how excited he is to go home for Christmas and be with his mother and experience their yearly traditions together and Annabeth's been planning on staying at school.

"Come to Christmas with us!"

She looks so uncomfortable. She's actually fidgeting in her chair.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

Annabeth looks up, eyes frustrated.

"Percy, my mother is going on vacation, okay? I don't have anywhere to stay. I can't stay with you for the entire vacation, especially because you don't have a guestroom. And I'm not allowed to go home while she's not there and all of the elves are going to be celebrating together anyways. I would just get in the way of their vacation."

"Stay with your dad," he suggests. His eyes widen at the murderous look on Annabeth's face.

"No!"

"Okay, fine, you're right," he concedes, backtracking before she can get so angry that their relationship is irreparable. "I'll just stay here."

Annabeth's body freezes.

"What?"

Percy shrugs.

"I'll stay here. We'll have Christmas together. Our first Christmas as a couple."

"I can't ask you to do that."

"You didn't ask. I offered."

"You've been looking forward to going home and seeing your mum for months. You love spending Christmas with her. You have absolutely no responsibility to spend it with me whatsoever."

"Annabeth, I realize that it's not my responsibility. But I want to spend it with you. I want to spend every day, every night, and every holiday with you because I _love _you. Remember? We've definitely been over this before. I can pull out the transcripts."

"Transcripts? Are we testifying in front of the Wizengamot?" she asks drily.

"Hey now. Be nice to me. I'm sacrificing my Christmas for you."

"Percy, I told you that-"

"Relax. I'm joking." She continues to scowl at him. "If you smile, I'll help you with your Ancient Runes homework," he coaxes.

It's the only subject that he's better than her in, something that he likes to remind her of quite often. Annabeth wrinkles her nose as looks down at the long translation that she's doing.

"Alright. Only because I owe it to you. All the extra practice, you know. You're welcome."

Percy nods understandingly.

"Of course."

(ooo)

It's a mark of how important today is that all of the students are out of bed before 9:30. Usually, the Great Hall is empty before that time on Saturday mornings. Today, however, is different. Today is Quidditch. If the whole school doesn't get out of bed in the morning to watch Quidditch, you know there's something wrong.

The Gryffindor and Slytherin tables have split amongst themselves, all wearing pieces of clothing that indicate whether they support Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. Over at the Gryffindor table, several students sport badger puppets that they made to support the Hufflepuff team. Down the table, another Gryffindor has a raven hat.

By the time Percy gets out of the shower and gets into his Quidditch uniform, the entire school seems to have gathered in the Great Hall. Annabeth, Jason, Piper, and Rachel are all sitting at the Ravenclaw table, clustered together. Frank and Hazel are there too, looking thoroughly out of place in the yellow and black that loudly shouts their House affiliation. Hazel moves over as soon as she sees Percy, giving him a welcoming smile. He smiles in return as he slides onto the bench next to Annabeth, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her in for a kiss.

"Good morning," he says, voice low and quiet.

"Good morning," she echoes, adjusting his sweater and smoothing it out over his shoulders. "You look handsome."

"You look like a very skilled chaser, Ms. _Chase_."

"It's the ponytail that does it."

"Oh, I agree."

When Jason sees them holding hands while they eat, he groans dramatically.

"You two are disgusting."

Piper nods her head in agreement.

"_And _fraternizing with the enemy, I might add," she puts in.

"Hey, you," says Percy, "what's with the Ravenclaw garb? Are us Hufflepuffs not good enough for you?" Annabeth elbows him deeply in the side. "What?" he demands, turning to her.

"Hufflepuffs are fine," Piper says, turning bright red. "I just felt like supporting Ravenclaw today. That's all. There is nothing to read into it. Nothing at all."

Annabeth kicks him under the table.

It's a clear, sunny morning when they make their way down to the pitch. The players go first, Annabeth, Jason, and Percy all walking off towards the changing rooms for their pre-game pep talks. It's Percy's second year on the team, and he's the only sixth year player. Everybody else is either a seventh year player or an underclassman, so he knows that the school has high expectations for him. It's this, and not the actual game, that makes him nervous for the game.

His hand tightens in Annabeth's, and she looks over at him at once, scrutinizing his facial expression and body language.

"Go on without me," Annabeth says to Jason, eyes still on Percy. "I'm going to trash talk my boyfriend and I don't think you need to see the carnage."

He knows that she's joking, but he laughs and walks off anyways, saluting her as he walks into the Ravenclaw changing rooms.

"Hey," Annabeth says, reaching up to brush Percy's bangs off of his forehead. "What's wrong?"

"Lots of expectations," he says, gripping her waist tightly. She frowns.

"But you've surpassed them all before."

"I know," he admits. "I do. I just… we're older now and it feels different. There's more at stake."

"Because you'll probably be captain next year?"

Percy pulls back slightly, startled.

"What?"

"Oh come on. You have to have thought about it. You're probably going to be captain next year. You're going to be the oldest player on the team and the one that's been playing longest. Hufflepuff's been top heavy for years because they kept selecting the seventh years for their team, and now that there aren't any sixth years in your year, they need a leader. That's you, Percy."

"Was that supposed to make me less nervous?"

"No." Annabeth shakes her head, then leans in and kisses him sweetly. "But that was. How did I do?"

"We might need a second go. Just to get all of the jitters out of my system, you know."

This time, it's he that kisses her and he that pulls away.

"So I think Hufflepuff is going to win today's game. Just a casual, unbiased observation."

"Yeah right!" Annabeth crows, pulling out of his grasp. "Dream on, Percy."

"I don't dream, Annabeth. I do."

"In that case- I _do_ believe that Hufflepuff is going to get smashed by Ravenclaw today."

"Probably," Percy lowers his voice, "but I hear there's some crazy sexual tension between two of the chasers on opposing teams, so at least that'll be worth a watch, eh?"

(ooo)

Percy and Annabeth are both too young to get their apparition licenses, even though they've been taking the class. Still, they have the pleasure of waving goodbye to all of their friends as they all stroll gleefully down to Hogsmeade, excited to get out of the castle. Percy, for his part, isn't that upset about not being able to go to Hogsmeade. He loves the school building more than anything, and even though Annabeth is disappointed that she's not able to go and take her test, Percy knows he'll coax her around.

"I have a present for you," Annabeth says after they walk everybody to the gates. Percy wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and she shoves him good naturedly. "You're incorrigible."

"You're my enabler."

"So you're saying that I should stop having sex with you? Because I can do that. It wouldn't be that hard."

"Please," he snorts, tousling his own hair and flashing her a winning grin as they start to walk back up to the school. "You can't resist my charm and good looks."

"Hmmm," she hums thoughtfully, lacing her fingers through his and swinging their hands between the two of them. "I don't know. It could go either way, really."

"We _just _started having sex," he points out. "You definitely couldn't stop now. We need lots of practice so that we can start kicking arse at it."

"Are you complaining about our current level of arse-kicking?"

"I am not, as such," he affirms, stooping down slightly to give her a kiss on her cheek as she laughingly tries to squirm away from his affectionate grasp. "So my non-inappropriate and therefore utterly useless present?"

"If you're going to be so ungrateful, maybe I just won't give it to you."

Percy allows his face to drift into a neutral expression.

"Okay, okay. I'm totally serious now. I'm going to love whatever you give me. Unless it's a large box of Bertie Bott's vomit flavored beans."

"Then let's go."

She begins walking forcefully across the grounds of Hogwarts. Normally, he would enjoy a leisurely stroll with his girlfriend, but he can see that she's actually got a destination. He follows her quickly as Annabeth speeds away from the greenhouses, the Quidditch pitch, and the Care of Magical Creatures hut, eventually leading Percy to the Whomping Willow. She grabs her wand from her pocket and pulls it out, swishing and flicking it in the direction of a branch, which then proceeds to lift into the air and float to a knot at the base of the willow. The tree stops moving, causing a sly smile to flit onto Annabeth's face.

"Where did you learn that?" Percy questions, awestruck.

"Oh, just a little conversation I had with Professor Waters. He had some information to share and I had a listening ear. It was nothing, really."

"…Did you drug him?"

"Percy!"

"Yeah, sorry."

"Let's go."

"Wait, what?"

She grabs him by his Hufflepuff tie and tugs him forward, moving through the branches that are suspended in movement. When they come to a large hole in the tree, Percy and Annabeth slither down it, finding themselves in a dirt hallway.

"Follow me," instructs Annabeth.

"Where does this lead?" Percy asks, ignoring how much he enjoys it when she's bossy in favor of getting answers.

"You'll see," Annabeth responds.

They walk in silence until they finally arrive in a room.

"Annabeth, where are we?"

She turns around, beaming.

"The Shrieking Shack."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously!" She looks so proud of herself that he has to high five her. "And look what else."

With her pinky finger entwined in his, she pulls him forward and leads him into a room in the house where there's a small picnic resting on the floor.

"Annabeth-"

"It's my thank you for Christmas."

"That was months ago, and you don't owe me anything for that. It was the best Christmas I've ever had."

"But you were amazing to me and I wanted to do something for you. That's the way being in love works, right? One person makes you happy and then you try to make the other person happy because you owe it to them for making you feel this good."

"Something like that," he says, voice husky as he moves closer to her, pressing a series of soft, simple kisses on her lips. Annabeth wraps her arms around his body while he puts his hands on her waist and dips his head so that his nose is resting in the crook between her neck and her shoulder. "Love you," he mumbles into her skin.

They sway back and forth like they're dancing, even though there's no music to dance to. Annabeth takes the opportunity to play with Percy's hair, which she does far too often, but he doesn't care. He likes to play with hers as well.

"Percy," Annabeth murmurs, and he feels her heart thumping a little faster as he responds in an affirmative moan to let her know that he's listening. "Do you want to eat now?"

"Not yet," he says, the words rumbling deep. "We're having a moment, sweetheart. You gotta enjoy them when they come along."

"Okay," she agrees, "a few more minutes."

And then they take a few more after that.

**Seventh Year**

He can't believe that this is his last opening feast at Hogwarts. It's unbelievable that he's already been at Hogwarts for seven years. He knows that he's never going to be back in this place again, something that makes his heart splutter with anxiety.

Annabeth bumps her shoulder into his, a playful smile flickering at her lips as they watch the first years get sorted into the Houses that will be their homes for the rest of their time at Hogwarts. The returning smile that Percy gives her is wan, but when Annabeth bites her lip and reaches up to fix the pointy hat atop of his head, he knows that she feels the same sense of melancholy.

It sucks to be sitting in this room and knowing that he has such a limited number of days left in it. But, at the same time, he's glad that at least he knows that he's not alone.

(ooo)

"So, you're good with girls, right?"

Percy and Annabeth both look up at the same time and exchange confused glances.

"Me or him?" Annabeth inquires, looking as though she's holding back a laugh at the strangeness of Jason's question.

Underneath the table, Percy places a hand on her thigh, just because he wants to be touching some part of her.

"Percy," Jason amends, "but… I guess you can stay, Annabeth."

"Gee thanks," she says sarcastically before returning to her Herbology textbook.

"So you," Jason says, turning back to Percy. "You're good with girls, right?"

Percy frowns.

"Not particularly, no."

"Yes you are!" Jason is frustrated now. "You and Annabeth are practically an old married couple."

"We are not!" refutes Annabeth, dropping all pretense of not listening as she looks up from the book. She points at Jason with her wand, which she'd been using to make important bits of text bounce off of the page for the next time she wanted to go back and review for an exam.

"Oh please, don't argue," Jason snorts. "Everybody thinks so, Annabeth."

"Well, why are we an old married couple?"

"Maybe because none of us have gotten together and you two have been together since fifth year. Maybe because you bicker all the time and you're the only people in our group to have sex with the same person for such a long time. Maybe because everybody knows that you two are going to move in together after we graduate because Annabeth doesn't want to live at home and Percy's mum won't mind."

Percy blinks a few times before turning to Annabeth.

"Do you want to move in together after we graduate?"

She scrunches her nose, thinking.

"I always assumed that I was going to be roommates with Piper."

"But that kind of sounds kinda awesome, doesn't it?"

"Living together?" She grins. "It does sound pretty wonderful."

"Think of all the uninterrupted sex. And we don't have to be quiet all of the time!"

Her eyes harden.

"Do you only want to live together because of sex? Because if that's the case, I can still move in with Piper."

_Oops. _

"No. There's other stuff, too."

"Such as?"

Percy glances over at Jason for help, but he just sits back in his chair, crosses his arms over his chest, and gestures for Percy to continue. Percy shoots him a dirty look, but Jason just shrugs and plops his feet up on the table. Percy, in the meanwhile, turns back to Annabeth. He finds that he can't say what he needs to say with his eyes on her judgmental expression, so he allows them to drift to the table, where his fingers find hers.

"I don't know. It's like, all those nights that we had to study in the library and we couldn't stay together without sneaking because there was a curfew. And we probably could have stayed in this library or in the hallways that we used to find to study in and we could have talked all night if we wanted to. But we never got to do that. And, like, if we lived together, we could fall asleep together, which would be pretty brilliant, and then we could wake up together, and figure out how to cook together because neither of us know how to do that, and even when we both have shitty days, we could know that we have the other one waiting for us at our little flat with a bright blue couch. And, I dunno, that sounds pretty fantastic to me."

Jason and Annabeth are both staring at him in awe when he looks up from his and Annabeth's entwined fingers.

"That was… oh, Percy."

"Yeah," Jason agrees, nodding vigorously. "Wow. Can I live with you?"

"Go away, Jason," Annabeth says flatly, eyes still on Percy. She's giving him the 'I want to kiss you' face, which is why it's extremely annoying that Jason is lurking like this.

"Hang on!" he says, indignant. "I came for girl advice and Percy just proved that he's more than equipped to give it to me."

"Girl advice?" Percy echoes, breaking his gaze from Annabeth for the first time. "What are you talking about?"

"I want to ask out Piper."

Annabeth claps her hands and spins around on Jason.

"Aha! She finally got you?"

Jason frowns.

"What are you talking about?"

"Um, nothing," Annabeth replies, gathering herself and biting her lip.

"That's great, Jason. You two are going to make a great couple."

"But first," Annabeth says. "You have to-"

"Wait, stop," Percy interrupts. "I know that voice. That's your logic voice. Do you really think that this is the time for 'logic voice'?"

A worried look begins to take over Annabeth's expression.

"It's just… there's a lot of things that could go really wrong when you're going from best friends to girlfriend and boyfriend. You have to consider whether you love the person so much that all of the risks are worth it, because other than that you're just screwing up your relationship with your friend for a few good snogs, and is that ever going to be worth it when you can just go off and snog somebody random to almost the same effect?"

"Is that really what you think about friends dating?" Percy wants to know, feeling slightly horrified at the fact that kissing Annabeth when they were fifth years could have gone so handily wrong. She shrugs.

"Well, not with us."

"No?"

He's starting to smile now, a feeling of hope poking at him.

"No. I knew that we weren't just going to breakup. I'm not an idiot."

Percy and Jason exchange amused glances.

"So you would associate the assumption that two people in a relationship breaking up to… stupidity?"

Annabeth is beginning to look slightly embarrassed.

"I don't know. I just knew it was going to be okay. Once I knew that you wanted the same things I wanted, it didn't seem like a problem anymore."

Jason slaps the table with the palm of his hand.

"See, that. That's what I want."

"Piper wants that too," Annabeth admits. "Just… don't fuck up, Jason."

Percy covers her mouth with his hand immediately.

"Annabeth! You can't say that in the library!"

She licks his palm until he lets go.

"Why not? You say that in the library all of the time," she reminds him.

"I know, but… you never say it in the first place… it's _weird_."

"Don't fuck up," Annabeth says again, trying to ignore Percy's laughter. She keeps eye contact with Jason as she tries to cover Percy's face with her hand. "And don't make me say it again, Jason Grace."

(ooo)

She's been carrying three enormous books for the entire Hogsmeade trip, and Percy hasn't said anything because it's Annabeth and Annabeth reads books all of the time. But when she suggests that they go into The Three Broomsticks and she carefully sets the books on top of the table where they are supposed to be enjoying their butterbeer, Percy finally breaks.

"What are those?"

She licks her lips as she looks over at the books, a mischevious smile on her face.

"Career books."

"What?"

She smacks him lightly on the arm.

"Keep up, oh boyfriend of mine. Remember when I told you that I was going to help you find out what you're going to do after school? Well, now is that time."

He's completely taken aback- they haven't talked about this in months. Percy had just resigned himself to several months of stress after school ended in which he would become insufferably anxious and never shave.

"You're choosing _now_ to do this? In Hogsmeade?"

"I figured that it would be easier for you to figure out what you want to do when you're away from the school and not worrying about tests that you could be studying for or essays that you could be writing."

"I never really stress about essays."

"Probably because you copy off of mine."

"Definitely because I copy off of yours."

"Focus, Jackson. By the time we leave Hogsmeade today, you're going to have a career. Are you ready?"

"I don't see how this is going to help," he grumps, taking a sip of his butterbeer as Annabeth picks up the first book. A very large, heavy, official looking book, he might add, with the words _Wizarding Careers _stamped on the front in gold lettering. "It's not like I've never heard of any careers before."

"Ehem," Annabeth says, opening to the first page. "Career number one: Accountant."

At that point, the door opens, allowing a blustery wind to billow through The Three Broomsticks as Frank, Hazel, and Leo enter the bar. Upon seeing Percy and Annabeth, their eyes brighten and they begin to make their way over to their table, but Annabeth shakes her head and scowls, causing the three of them to turn around.

"How are you so good at that?"

Annabeth smirks.

"I'm Head Girl. I'm formidable."

"I'm Quidditch captain and nobody runs in fear from my wrath."

"But you're never wrathful. Try summoning true wrath and _then _see what happens."

"Hmm. I'll consider it."

"Also, though, you're _Hufflepuff's_ Quidditch captain, love. Nobody's afraid of Hufflepuffs."

"One day I'm going to start insulting your House and we'll see how well that goes."

"Like I said. Nobody's afraid of Hufflepuffs."

"List," Percy says, jamming his finger on the page where Annabeth's mighty list of careers rests. "We'll talk about the fear that I inspire in the hearts of children later."

"Accountant," Annabeth repeats.

"Yelch."

"Acrobat?"

"Annabeth."

"Actor… actuary… acupuncturist… administrative assistant…"

"I have an idea," Percy says, placing a hand over the book to stop her from reading. Annabeth looks up at him, eyebrows lifted. "What if you just read the ones that you think I might have a semblance of an interest in."

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Because you know me better than anybody else has ever known me," Percy says genuinely. "And also because I strongly suspect that you've already got a few careers in mind for me and were never intending on reading me the entirety of all three of these books."

Sighing, Annabeth closes the book.

"Okay, I might have an idea."

"And the reason that you didn't tell me this idea is because…?"

"I wanted you to discover it on your own so that you could feel like you found it yourself. And, also, if I told you what career to pursue and you didn't like it, I would feel absolutely terrible. I mean, think about how disastrous that would be for our relationship! Every single time you came home after work and needed to complain about your job, you would be complaining to the person who told you to go after that job, and then you would pin it on me and our relationship would end in this giant fight about how I don't really know you and how your future unhappiness is all my fault."

"My future unhappiness is only your fault because you broke up with me in this scenario," Percy points out. "Now tell me what I'm going to be when I grow up, dammit!"

Annabeth looks down at the table, tracing random shapes in the ring that her glass has left on the light wood.

"I think you should be a teacher."

Percy stares at her for a moment, then starts laughing.

"A teacher?" he chortles. "Seriously?"

Annabeth is immediately defensive.

"It makes sense to me!"

"Yeah. Sure," he laughs.

"No, seriously, Percy. You're not the best student, but because of that, you _understand _students. You'll be able to help them the way we helped each other going through school. You know what kids like and what they don't like because you've been in the exact same position as they have. And once you grasp a concept, you're phenomenal at it. Remember how much trouble you had with changing charms? Now you can do them without even thinking about them- you can even do them non verbally. That's _impressive_."

"A teacher," Percy muses, his throat beginning to tighten. "Really?"

"And you're amazing at Ancient Runes," Annabeth reminds him. "You help me in that class, not the other way around. You're probably the top in the class."

"Well, that's because it's easy for me."

"Exactly."

When he looks up at her again, she's twisting a strand of hair around her finger, apprehensive of what he's about to say.

"A teacher. Yeah. Okay."

(ooo)

The look on Jason's face is so earnest, so enthused, that Percy almost wants to agree. Doing this might make him feel better- might make them all feel better. Things have been really heavy lately, especially with the N.E. . But they're over, and everybody thinks that they've passed all of their subjects, and instead of feeling relieved, there's an odd, choking feeling that comes with realizing that school is almost over. They're almost adults.

With one look at Annabeth's expression, he knows it's not going to happen.

"That is a terrible idea," Percy says, channeling his inner Annabeth. She looks approving, but Jason's eyes narrow with suspicion almost at once.

"Hang on," he says, stabbing angrily at a piece of steak. "This was _your _idea!"

Now Percy's actually confused. His eyebrows knit together as he tries to remember what Jason is referring to.

"I said it would be a good idea to jump into the Black Lake on the last week of school?"

"Yes!" Jason says fervently, his eyes wide.

"Follow up question: How drunk was I?"

"It was in, like, third year," Jason shrugs. "We thought it would be a great idea back then, and I seriously thought that we were going to be doing it. I got Piper and Frank and Rachel on board as well. We're all ready to go. I thought you knew!"

"So, when exactly were you planning on doing this?" Annabeth puts in, leaning over Percy so that she can speak to Jason without anything intercepting.

"Tonight," Jason says, his voice sounding as though this is very obvious. "Graduation is tomorrow. It has to be tonight. Seriously, I thought you _knew_. Haven't you heard us making classy jokes about it all week?"

"Forgive us for assuming that telling each other to 'go jump in a lake' and then laughing really hysterically afterwards was just a sign of immaturity," says Annabeth drily.

"We'll come with you, though," Percy says, and Jason perks up.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. We'll watch."

Annabeth doesn't say anything, but she nods, and that's how they end up at the Black Lake in the middle of the night watching Jason, Piper, Rachel, and Frank leap into the icy cold water. Percy and Annabeth, on the other hand, lounge on the shore, lying on a blanket and staring up at the stars that illuminate the dark castle.

"Seven years," Percy says, whispering it to Annabeth and the sky. He is so grateful for everything that the castle has given him- for the magic that flows through his veins, for the friends that are bouncing around in the lake, and for the girl that is lying beside him with her hand in his. He loves everything about this school.

"I can't believe it's over," Annabeth says, her voice catching over the words.

He can tell she's about to cry, so he kisses the top of her head, letting his lips rest there for an extra moment before he places his chin on top of her head.

"I can't believe it happened in the first place," he chuckles, shaking his head.

Annabeth sits up very suddenly.

"Percy?"

"Mhhmm?"

She reaches up and pulls her hair out of the bun that confines it behind her head.

"Let's jump."

He's about to ask what she's talking about, but his question is answered when she reaches behind herself and unfastens her school skirt. It drops to the ground, leaving her to pull her jumper over her head. Percy quickly follows suit until they are both left in their undergarments.

"I love you," he says ardently. Annabeth shrugs.

"HEY!" Piper shouts, jumping up and down in the water. "LOOK WHO'S COMING!"

"The old married couple takes a risk," Jason teases while Frank splashes him. Rachel, for her part, is just floating effortlessly in the water, her thick red hair spreading out underneath her. She shoots Percy and Annabeth a lazy, content smile as they jump in.

By the time Annabeth and Percy have gotten a few good splashes in, they're having just as much fun as their friends. Annabeth wraps her legs around Percy's waist so that he's giving her a piggyback ride, and he swims around the lake with surprising agility.

"You could've jumped in without me, you know," Annabeth murmurs when they've slowed down slightly.

Percy turns his head so that he can look at her, their lips almost-but-not-quite touching.

"I wouldn't want to."

(ooo)

The ceremony ends more quickly than any of them would have ever assumed, and when they are all carrying the certificates that proclaim them graduates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Percy feels the sort of emptiness that comes with the completion of school. He can never go back to this place or this time. Who knows if he'll ever be able to go back to having the same relationships with the same people.

He's going to miss everything about Hogwarts.

"You'll come back," Annabeth says as they make their way down to the boats. Her voice is soft and reassuring, but her hand shakes as it clutches its arm. "I know you will."

He lets her get into the boat first, wanting to linger on the grounds for as long as he can. He, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason all sit together, their eyes almost as wide as they were the first time they came to Hogwarts.

"Remember the first time we were on these boats?" Jason asks, gruff in tone. "It was just me and Percy and a bunch of other first years that I don't even remember anymore."

"I don't remember either," Annabeth shrugs.

"Hey, I think you were on the boat with _me_!" Piper gasps, mock offended. Jason laughs and smiles at her from where he sets next to her, his arm loosely around her waist.

Annabeth clutches his hand tightly as the school fades into the distance, and it's only then that he sees the tears as they fall from her eyes. He kisses them away, not wanting her to feel the same hurt that he is feeling but knowing that he can't protect her from it.

He meets her eyes when he helps her out of the boat, and then she's standing on the platform right next to him, her eyes bright in the sunlight. Tear tracks still stain her face, and for a moment, he can picture the haughty vulnerability that pervaded her countenance the first time he ever saw her. She had two pigtails gliding down her back and she was clutching an owl and looked as though the entire world was beneath her and her beautiful gray eyes and that was Annabeth Chase.

But this is Annabeth Chase. The girl that was his best friend for five years before they fell in love and lost their virginities to each other and then fell in love even more, again and again and again. She's been bewitching to him ever since their first day at Hogwarts, but that only makes him love her more.

Everything changes. Everything has to end. But this never will.

**tbc**

_A/N: Well, this is the end of part 1! I can't believe I finally finished it. I promise you that part 2 will be way shorter than this- probably 10,000 words less. But thank you for reading all the way to the end of this fic. I spent an exorbitant amount of time on it, probably more than I've ever spent on a fic because it took me a solid week to write, with some writing every day. But I loved every moment of it and never got frustrated because this story was insanely fun to explore._

_Part 2 will be about their life in the magical world after Hogwarts. I'm not sure how far in I'll go, but if I don't update (relatively) soon, please feel free to poke me. I'm writergirl8 on twitter and rongasm on tumblr. _

_Thanks again for reading! ~writergirl8_


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing she notices about the dog is that he's got one brown eye and one blue eye. Both of them blink pleadingly up at Annabeth from where the small animal rests safely in Percy's arms. His pink tongue lolls pathetically out of his mouth, starkly contrasting his short black fur.

"Please!" Percy says again, his eyes doing some begging of their own. Annabeth immediately darts her gaze away from her boyfriend, knowing that she will be unable to resist his hopeful expression. Those eyes have always gotten the best of her.

"We both live in apartments, Percy!" she argues. "There isn't any room for this dog to grow."

"He'll be fine. Crups don't grow that much. They stay small."

"We're both really busy." This argument seems smart enough to Annabeth. She widens her sensible eyes at Percy and tries to pour her logic into him. "We won't be around to take care of him enough."

"Piper and Jason can too," Percy reminds Annabeth, much to her annoyance. "They can take care of him when I'm working and you're in class."

"Jason is an auror," points out Annabeth. "He doesn't have much extra time."

"And Piper is on an internship right now," Percy says. "She has predictable hours."

"What about when we go visit your mum?"

"He can stay with Jason and Piper."

"And if they're too busy to care for him?"

"Blackjack can come with us."

She allows her mouth to drop open.

"You already named him?" Annabeth asks, aghast. Percy grins and crouches onto the ground to put Blackjack on the floor of Annabeth and Piper's flat. Instead of running off, the dog presses himself against Percy's leg, forked tail waving in the air, and starts licking his shoe. "What if Mrs. O'Leary and Athena don't like him?"

Her voice is weaker because the crup has just flopped helplessly onto his back and revealed his belly, which Percy is now scratching deftly.

"Then we give him to Frank. He loves animals."

Annabeth thinks that she could watch Percy playing with this particular animal for the next several hours and never tire of it. God, he's cute. And Blackjack is pretty adorable too. When Percy looks up and meets her eyes, the large smirk that spreads across his face shows her that he knows he's won.

"I hate you," Annabeth says flatly, but he just whoops in response and springs up, grabbing her arms to hold her still while he smothers her with kisses.

"I _love _you," Percy sings, voice vibrating all the way through her. From the floor, Blackjack yips jealously.

"Tell me something I don't already know," responds Annabeth, still grumpy from losing, but she threads her fingers through Percy's hair anyways, unable to help herself as she winds the ink black strands around her fingers. She kisses him in apology and then turns quiet as he lowers his head and runs his lips tantalizingly over her neck. She's so easily able to get lost in him. When the door to the flat opens, however, it's enough for both of them to jump apart. They're used to being interrupted by now.

"What did she say?" Jason demands to know. Piper drops to the floor and opens her arms to the small black crup. He bounds over to her, using her knees as a step stool as he licks all over her face with his small forked tongue.

"You knew?" Annabeth complains, feeling completely ganged up on as the three exchange glances.

"You know Percy," Jason shrugs. "He can't keep anything from me."

Annabeth snorts as she walks from the living room to the tiny, neat kitchen. She can think of plenty of things Percy has kept from Jason, but that knowledge isn't for him.

"Are you two having dinner over here, or are you hanging out across the hall?"

Jason glances over at Percy, then shrugs.

"Sure. Yeah. I suppose we can slum it over here."

Percy chuckles, patting Blackjack briefly before standing up and joining Annabeth in the kitchen. She's hunched over a cookbook, using her wand to turn the pages. Percy wraps his arms around her, placing a chin on her shoulder. She feels happiness bloom in her stomach as his familiar scent overtakes her.

This whole domesticity thing is working out so well.

"Hey," he murmurs, voice low.

"Hi there," she replies coolly, pretending to still be angry about the crup.

"Can I help with dinner?"

Annabeth snorts out a laugh, covering her mouth guiltily as soon as she sees the wounded look on his face.

"Sorry, sweetheart."

"I can cook stuff!"

"Cereal doesn't count," she reminds him.

"I can totally cook!"

Annabeth tries to keep her face neutral as she nods.

"Okay. Okay, of course you can. You can make spaghetti."

"And eggs," Percy reminds her, placing his hands on her waist so that she'll spin fully around and look at him. Annabeth readily complies, winding her arms around his neck.

"I'll make you a deal," she says, feeling joy pulse through her as her boyfriend widens his eyes to show his enthusiasm. "You can hang out in here while I make food that is actually edible, and then you can do the entirety of the cleaning."

"And then you won't be mad about Blackjack anymore?" wheedles Percy, hopping onto the counter across the small room.

"Mhm."

She turns to the recipe and runs her finger down it, then jabs her wand at their fridge. The door flies open, revealing the food that Annabeth needs. She maintains her gaze on the cookbook as she directs her wand at the fridge and levitates the food out of it.

"Deal," Percy agrees as, with another swish of her wand, Annabeth sets the knife to work at slicing peppers. "You know, watching you cook is kinda hot."

They're been together since they were fifteen and Percy Jackson calling her hot still sends a small thrill jilting through Annabeth. She turns around to roll her eyes at the impish smile on his face.

"You cleaning is kind of hot," she echoes, reaching behind her head to tie her hair into a ponytail, a purposeful decision. Percy likes her neck. He leaves a fair amount of hickeys on it.

"One day we're gonna ditch Piper and Jason and get a place just for us. I'll clean, you cook, and then we can have sex on the kitchen floor."

Percy snatches a piece of celery as it drifts towards the salad that she is making. He shoves it into his mouth, crunching happily as he, most likely, thinks about the two of them having sex on said kitchen floor.

"We basically live together already," Annabeth notes, even though it isn't really the same. She wants to live with him too, but at the same time, she isn't really sure if she's ready to spend the rest of her life living in a flat with a messy _boy._

"Not the same," Percy says, using his wand to turn on the burner from where he's seated. Annabeth plops a pot on top of it a few moments later and flashes him a grateful smile. "We still have to leave a sock on the door if we're having sex."

"But you sleep over here and Piper sleeps at your flat!" argues Annabeth, trying not to laugh at how disgruntled Percy looks.

"Do you not want to live with me?"

"Of course not," Annabeth lies. "You're a messy eighteen-year-old boy who leaves his boxers on the floor of my bedroom and brings home crups when he goes to visit Frank at work."

"That was one time!"

"And please don't make it a habit." She kisses him on the cheek to soften her words. "Hey. It's partly my fault, you know."

"What is?" Percy replies, arms crossed defensively over his chest.

Annabeth bites her lip as she goes to stand between his legs, placing her hands on his chest.

"The boxers thing," she says quietly, hoping that Piper and Jason won't hear them. "I'm the one that takes them off, after all."

Percy kisses her, taking her hair out of the ponytail that she'd just put it into. She gives him a look as it tumbles down her back in its familiar waves and curls.

"So does this mean that I'm off the couch tonight?" Percy asks, referring to the way she's pressing up against him and kissing his jawline.

"Were you ever going to stay on the couch?" Annabeth questions rhetorically.

He winks at her as he hops off of the counter to kiss her more deeply.

(ooo)

"And remember, this is a muggle university, so you can't say anything about magic."

Percy rolls his eyes, the first time he's looked up from his Quidditch magazine since Annabeth started talking. She has her arms crossed over her chest and is truly giving him her best glare, but Percy just seems exasperated. She can tell because he's not looking at her breasts even though she's standing in her bra right in front of him.

"I was raised as a muggle, remember?" Percy says in a way Annabeth supposes is meant to be comforting. "I probably have a better idea of how to act than you did when you first started going to uni."

"Nonsense," says Annabeth, brushing this off immediately. She turns to her closet to put out a fancy black top. It's important to look appropriate for the restaurant that they're attending to celebrate the first semester being over, but she refuses to wear the dress that Piper had selected. For the love of merlin- it has _ruffles_.

"Nonsense?" Percy says indignantly. "What do you mean nonsense?"

"I was fully prepared. I read several books about wizards integrating themselves into muggle society."

She's half paying attention to the conversation and half hunting around for the tube lipstick that she never uses. Percy doesn't like the way it tastes when they kiss but, to be fair, Annabeth doesn't like it either. That's why she usually limits herself to a mascara spell that Hazel had taught her when they were younger. Mascara is one of the only makeup spells done simply. It's more transfiguration and less art.

"I had practical experience."

Percy's lighthearted voice is masked by Annabeth's cheer as she pounces on the lipstick, wedged into the back of the drawer where she keeps her knickers.

"Are you getting ready?" she asks, ignoring his last statement as she walks over to the mirror above her dresser. She glances at Percy's reflection. He's still wearing shorts and a Hogwarts t-shirt with their year of graduation stamped onto it.

"No, but I'm not worried. My makeup doesn't take as long as yours."

Annabeth tries and fails to look mad at him, instead ending up chuckling to herself as she pours some smoothing lotion into her palm, running it through her hair to straighten it. She would never bother straightening her hair on any normal day, but running her fingers through the strands gives her something to do with her nervous energy.

"Clever," she says absently, wondering suddenly if she should just swallow her pride and put on the dress that Piper had picked out for her. Piper always seems to know what's appropriate to wear, and she's never led Annabeth astray before. It's a gift of hers, although neither Piper nor Annabeth know where it came from.

"Hey," Percy says, scooting up on the bed. "What are you nervous about?"

He gestures to the potion in Annabeth's hand. She feels warmth fill her stomach as she remembers how well he knows her. Still, she hesitates, refusing to turn around and face his inquisitive expression. She could say that she isn't nervous, but that would be a blatant lie. She hadn't exactly realized how anxious she is until Percy had pointed it out to her, but that doesn't make it any less true.

Sometimes he knows her so well that it scares her. Sometimes it makes her want to run.

"We've never spent time together outside of study group."

Annabeth doesn't need to say anything else because Percy already understands. He slides effortlessly off of the bed, sidles up to her to drop a kiss on her temple, and then exits the room to go to his flat across the hall.

"Wear something that makes your eyes pop!" calls Jason. Piper's laughter bounces down the hall and into Annabeth's room, causing Annabeth to smile.

They get to the restaurant ten minutes early, much to the chagrin of Percy. She clutches onto his hand tightly as they enter nonetheless, using it as her support system. She doesn't know why she's so nervous. She sees these people every day.

"Annabeth!" calls a voice, and when she sees one of her friends waving her over with a bright smile on her face, Annabeth allows her expression to echo it.

"Reyna! Hi!" she says, dragging Percy behind her as she rushes forward.

"Percy, right?" Reyna confirms, squinting as she appraises him. Percy looks helplessly over at Annabeth, eyes begging for reprieve, but she just places a comforting hand on his arm and shakes her head, stifling a laugh. This is Reyna- it's just what she does. She's loud and forward and calculating and when Annabeth had become partners with her in their basic design class, she had been easy to get to know.

Plus, she's always early, just like Annabeth.

"He's hotter than you described," Reyna announces, causing Percy to duck his head, embarrassed. "I mean, you talk about him a lot, but I mostly get anecdotes. I've never gotten a full-fledged description. Or, like, a nude painting."

"Well, that's hidden in the flat," Annabeth jokes, causing Percy's mouth to comically fall open. At the shocked look on Percy's face, Reyna throws her head back and laughs, then flounces away to have a conversation with somebody else.

"Your friends are… nice," Percy says weakly, even though he's only met the one.

"She's a lot, but she's funny if you get to know her."

"And when she's not objectifying you," Percy notes darkly. "Okay. Let's do this."

Annabeth finds that she isn't nervous anymore. She squeezes Percy's hand, this time being the one to provide him comfort, and decides to give him something to think about.

"I tell you what," she says, directing Percy to a seat at the table where Reyna had placed her coat. "You can be on top tonight. You're welcome."

(ooo)

The school is small compared to how Annabeth had pictured it. As she walks through the loud, echo-filled hallways, she tries to put her feet down as slowly as possible on the orange tile floors. Percy, for his part, doesn't care about the amount of noise that they're making. He seems to be in his element as he leads Annabeth past the children's pictures that line the walls and then tugs her into the auditorium. When Percy escorts Annabeth right to the front row, where he rips 'reserved' signs off of two chairs, she notices that the seats are low to the floor and are quite small- too small for adults to sit in. She raises her eyebrows at him, but Percy just chuckles and takes his wand out of his back pocket.

"You're going to lose a butt cheek," warns Annabeth for the millionth time, referencing the fact that he always stores his wand in his back pocket. "And I'd hate to see an arse as gorgeous as yours vanish into nonbeing."

"My arse isn't going anywhere," Percy promises, tapping her seat twice with his wand. It enlarges to adult size.

"Merlin," Annabeth says, sitting down in the cushy red chair that Percy is gesturing her towards. "Wizarding primary schools have gotten fancy since my day."

The lights begin to dim as Percy puts his mouth close to Annabeth's ear and whispers,

"Shut up. You're making me feel old."

"We aren't old!" she whispers back as the six year olds, the youngest class in the school, skip onto the stage and start singing a very cheesy song.

"I can't wait to be old, though," Percy admits, finding her hand with the light of the stage. "Think about how awesome it's going to be."

Several of the little performers have fallen down and begun to sob. A teacher rushes from where she'd been lurking backstage.

"Old age is going to be awesome?" asks Annabeth skeptically. "What exactly are you looking forward to? Dentures? Hip replacements?"

Two kids run off stage. Several parents get up and chase after them.

"Naw, not that old. Like… forties. All the kids will be at Hogwarts, or out of Hogwarts, depending on when we have them. And I can wear slippers and read the Daily Prophet on the front porch every morning and smoke one of those pipes that makes funny animal shapes with the smoke. And you'll be in the midst of a thriving architecture career, so you'll be everybody's boss, and when you come from from work we'll eat a quiet, peaceful dinner and fall asleep on the couch."

Annabeth feels her body react almost violently to this. Suddenly, she's being forced into a future that she hasn't actively planned but involves her quite intricately. She's considered marrying Percy- of course she has, they've been together since they were fifteen- but he takes it as fact and not as something conceptual. He _knows _that they're going to have kids together one day; he doesn't even assume it. And he has certainly never asked her about it. She doesn't even know if she wants kids, really. It seems like such a huge commitment.

Communicating this to Percy would be impossible, especially because they're sitting in the middle of an auditorium full of tiny chairs and tiny children. He's looking at her so earnestly, with so much love, that Annabeth knows that Percy Jackson would marry her right this minute were she to ask it of him. So, instead, she narrows her eyes and points a finger accusingly at his nose.

"You're never going to smoke. You're not allowed to smoke. I will not snog you if you begin smoking."

He laughs, oblivious to her avoidance, and presses his lips to the finger that she is brandishing at him.

There's another forty minutes until Percy sits ramrod straight in his chair, excited energy coursing through him. About fifteen young witches and wizards amble onto the stage in costumes that portray various types of magical animals.

"That's them!" he says needlessly, waving to the student right in front of them on the stage. She waves back, giggling. "Those are my kids."

She hadn't realized how badly she wants him to be a father until she sees the pride that shines in his eyes.

(ooo)

Hogwarts is beautiful in the spring. The sprawling greenery that surrounds the school is always in bloom by the time graduation occurs, and the school is almost as impressive as it is mid-winter. Annabeth much prefers Hogwarts when snow is blanketing the grounds, draping them in white, powdery perfection. She recalls spending Saturday afternoons having snowball fights with all of her best friends and easily thinks of this as one of her favorite memories from school.

Percy likes spring because everything is new and green and one can play Quidditch and go swimming and snog on a picnic basket outdoors. Still, they're not going to be snogging today because the Hogwarts graduation is a stately affair and they don't go to school here anymore. And, besides, they have two perfectly excellent beds at home in which they can snog. It absolutely does not matter that Hogwarts is the place that they met and became friends and started dating and lost their virginities to each other and fell truly, madly in love. It doesn't make a difference that this is one of the most magical and romantic places in the world. And, certainly, it doesn't matter that Percy's tie brings out his eyes.

They are _not_ going to snog in a broom closet.

Merlin, he looks happy to be here. She knows that Percy loves his job- loves working with children- but she's also aware that he wishes he had been able to get a position at Hogwarts right after graduation like Rachel had. She'd been offered a job immediately after graduating, having possession of the long awaited and revered "gift."

Annabeth hadn't really believed in Divination until Rachel randomly came up with said "gift." She still doesn't believe in it- at least not fully.

"Congratulations!"

When Hazel leaps into Annabeth's arms for a hug, Percy takes this as a chance to shake Leo's hand.

"Congrats, mate," he says, clapping Leo on the back.

"Thank you," Leo grins. He's already got a job lined up at the Ministry, working in one of the smallest departments in the building, which creates new technology using a combination of magic and engineering. The department only has a handful of employees, but Annabeth thinks that Leo is going to be brilliant at it.

"When do you start at St. Mungo's?" Piper asks Hazel, clutching protectively onto her arm. They haven't seen each other since the last Hogsmeade visit and it feels like the gang is finally back together. This is when normalcy returns to their friendship; they're all sure of it.

"Why?" Hazel asks suspiciously, teasing Piper. "Are you planning on writing an article about me?" 

Piper rolls her eyes.

"All of you _people _fail to realize that working at the Daily Prophet as an entry-level employee means getting coffee and refreshing the charms that they put on the magical quills."

"'All of you people?'" Annabeth gasps, pretending to be offended. "We share _soap_, Piper."

"Yeah!" Percy agrees, while Jason nods vigorously.

"Vanilla orchid," he tells Frank informatively, offering him Jason's arm to smell. "It's very pleasant."

Frank sniffs experimentally.

"Mmmm!" he says, his face lighting up. He pulls back the arm for another sniff when Jason tries to escape.

Hazel and Leo exchange slightly frightened glances.

"Um… can we go get drunk now?" Leo suggests. When Jason, Piper, and Frank cheer, Percy pulls Annabeth to the side.

She only knows what he's thinking because she's been thinking about it all afternoon.

"No. We can't."

"But-"

"Percy, I said we can't!"

"I just think-"

"No, Percy!"

"Okay, fine." He looks down, dejected. Annabeth moves in closer, her lips almost touching his ear.

"Ask one more time," she whispers.

He starts to smile winningly.

"Annabeth?"

"Yes Percy?"

"Dear, Annabeth."

"I'm listening."

"Will you pretty please come shag me in a broom closet?"

She sighs girlishly, grabbing his hand.

"Goodness. Such passion. Such persuasion." He smirks at her. "Well, if you insist."

Percy claps Jason on the shoulder.

"We'll be roughly twenty minutes late."

"Ugh, really?" he says. "You guys are disgusting."

"Christmas Eve, Jason."

He turns red and coughs.

"Okay. Fine. See you in eighteen minutes."

"I thought so."

(ooo)

The room is spinning, or maybe that's just because Percy's mouth is on her neck, biting and sucking until he leaves a bruise on Annabeth's skin. She should probably care more about the fact that he still gives her hickeys like a randy sixteen-year-old, but all she does is moan quietly and tug his hair, signalling that it's time to move his attention back to her lips. He complies quite happily, always eager to please.

They know the ins and outs of each other quite intricately by now, and it's not just applicable to personality traits. They don't really need to talk when they're fooling around anymore because nonverbal communication seems to be quicker and more accurate than actual language. For a while now, it has just been heavy breathing and pitchy gasps and soft sighs and the occasional dirty talk, which both of them suck at so they try not to open that particular can of worms.

She loves him more than she's ever loved anyone.

A loud fist banging on Percy's bedroom door causes Annabeth's fingers to still on the buttons at the front of his shirt.

"Annabeth!" hollers Piper, much louder than is appropriate for the situation. "Are you in here?"

Annabeth shakes her head frantically at Percy, who has two hands beside her two respective ears and is hovering his whole body over her body, swallowing her frame in his mass. She doesn't want him to move anytime soon- especially not for annoying roommates.

"Er- she's not in here!" Percy yells back, eyes on Annabeth. His voice is unconvincing, and she starts to laugh at his lack of theatrical prowess, forcing him to cover her mouth with his hand.

"Sure she's not," Piper says sarcastically. "Annabeth, I had a fight with Jason."

"Well that's new," Annabeth deadpans in Percy's ear. He snorts.

"She's really not here, Piper."

"Shut up, Jackson. I heard her moan."

"We're naked," Annabeth fibs.

"Or hoping to be," Percy mutters.

"I'm coming in."

"NO!"

"It's locked!" Piper growels. The handle jiggles vigorously. "I'm unlocking it."

"No!" Percy complains. "We're literally in the middle of sex."

"Or hoping to be!" Annabeth yells.

The door swings open, revealing Piper and her wand. Percy groans loudly and flops onto the bed on top of Annabeth, being careful not to crush her with his body weight.

"So. Jason," Piper says, calmly and clearly. Percy rolls off of Annabeth as Piper flops onto the bed between the two of them. "_I _said that I really wanted to see this film that my dad produced because I know a bunch of the actors in the film. And he said that he had to stay and listen to the Quidditch game and when I reminded him of the fact that his team isn't even playing, he said that he really just didn't want to go to my father's film because the last time he saw one, he almost vomited. But then I said that I thought we were in it together because we always made rude comments about how shitty the movie is, and it was like, our thing. But then he started yelling about how he's sick of the movies and so that I said that when Puddlemere United plays the Holyhead Harpies, I'm rooting for the Harpies, and now he isn't talking to me. Mozel tov, by the way," she adds, pointing to Percy's trousers. He and Annabeth slap her arm at the same time.

"That's fun. Now get out of my bedroom," Percy says.

"Annabeth," Piper sighs, appealing to her best friend. "What do I do?"

"Why do you always come to us for advice?" Percy cuts in, echoing Annabeth's thoughts perfectly.

"Seriously," she says, nodding. "Why?"

"Because you are an old, married couple," Piper says.

Their friends tell them that they're an old married couple _a lot_. Annabeth thinks that this is ridiculous. They've only been together for four and a half years.

"We aren't!" she argues. "We aren't old or married. We have very regular sex that we don't have to schedule-" Percy high fives her over Piper's head "-and we never go to bed before eight."

"Look, if you two really need proof… me, Frank, and Jason have a list going. I can show it to you if you tell me what to do."

"There's a list? Of reasons why we are an old married couple?"

"There's no list," Percy says suspiciously.

"There's a list," Piper confirms. "Annabeth, I think we need to eat pizza and watch Legally Blonde."

"Again?"

As much as Annabeth enjoys Legally Blonde, she's starting to think that they need a new girl power movie. It's getting to be excessive.

"Again."

"But… _shagging_," Percy reminds Piper, causing her to give him a nasty look.

"I'll go find the film," she tells Annabeth. "You order the pizza."

With a sad sigh, Annabeth kisses Percy on the mouth. She gets off the bed and starts to follow Piper when the door suddenly closes in front of her. When she turns around, Percy is on the bed with his wand pointed at the door.

"Just a quick one," he pleads halfheartedly. "In and out. Piper won't even notice."

"Percy," she sighs. "As romantic as that sounds…"

She reaches forward to open the door again, then turns around to give him another apologetic smile. He's lying on the bed with his arm behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. Some of his shirt buttons are open, revealing the nicely toned muscles of his chest.

"We need to get our own place," she says fervently, causing him to laugh and throw a pillow at her.

(ooo)

"If I set out wine, do you think it would seem more like a party and less like I'm taking advantage of our friendship?"

"Nope," Piper says, shaking her head as she pops a crisp into her mouth.

"Maybe beer," Percy suggests helpfully, grabbing a bottle from the fridge. He pops it open using his wand and takes a long swig. Annabeth glares at him.

"Percy, can you please behave?"

Her boyfriend looks thoroughly chastised.

"Sorry?"

"I mean, really." She crosses the room to him and grabs the beer out of his hand, taking a drink from it. "It's only polite to get your girlfriend a beer as well." 

He grabs another bottle for himself and lets Annabeth keep the first. Piper, in the meantime, has already tugged out the wine and is drinking it from a red solo cup. The three of them settle in the living room, where Annabeth's final project for her 3D Design class is placed atop the coffee table.

"It's so pretty," Percy says, slightly awestruck as he stares up at the building. Annabeth, however, isn't convinced. She bites her lip, tilts her head to the side, and carefully studies the building, locating all of its tiny flaws. It's an impossible project, and she probably waited too long to start it, and maybe she should have picked out a different design for the windows?

"It's so… incomplete," replies Annabeth instead of agreeing.

Percy is opening his mouth to berate her for her lack of confidence when the door swings open, revealing an exhausted looking Jason. He's got a bruise blooming over his eye and a long scratch across his cheek.

"Fuck, Jason," Percy says, scrambling up immediately. He slams the door shut behind his friend, grabs him by the shoulders, and leads him over to the couch, where Piper sits with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"What the hell happened?" she asks, reaching for her wand so that she can heal Jason. When she directs it towards his eye, her hand is shaking.

"Auror," Jason reminds her, voice rough and tired.

"Let me," Annabeth says gently, wrapping her fingers around Piper's wrist and lowering it before she causes even more damage to Jason. It only takes a simple incantation and a calculated wand movement, but it's very precise and the way Piper had gulped down her wine when her boyfriend entered the room tells Annabeth that she's not mentally prepared to cast a healing charm. When the purple shrinks back from Jason's eye, Piper heaves a long breath of relief and runs her thumb over the place where the bruise had been. Jason gives a small grunt of pain but allows Piper to kiss the spot while Annabeth quietly fixes the scrape on his other cheek.

"You're an auror-in-training," Percy reminds him. "No bad guy did that to you."

"It was punch-a-trainee day at work," says Jason drily. Piper makes an annoyed sound with her closed lips and buries her head in his shoulder. "No, we were doing combat practice and some things just got out of hand. That's all."

"I always thought that the aurors functioned as a team," Annabeth comments, frowning. His appearance leaves something unsettling in her stomach.

"We do," Jason says. "But they coupled fight training with building tolerance to different potions."

"And they made you angrier?" guesses Annabeth, still hovering near the arm of the couch.

"They certainly heightened something aggressive," Jason admits. "It was kind of unreal."

Wordlessly, Piper shoves the wine bottle at him. He takes a long sip just as there's a knock on the door to the flat. Annabeth moves to get it but Percy leaps up before her, laying a hand on her shoulder briefly before making his way to the door.

"Hey," he says warmly, and when Frank and Grover both walk in, Frank carrying a box of biscuits, Grover holding a bag of Mexican takeout. Annabeth gives both of them a grateful smile.

"Hi, Grover. Hi, Frank," she says, affection rushing into her as she sees the sweet smile on both of their faces. It's harder to maintain regular visits with your friends that don't live with you. They both work and she's in school and they rarely see each other anymore. "How are things at the Ministry?" she asks, directing the question to Frank.

Frank is an intern in the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, a perfect fit, in Annabeth's opinion. And, yes, she may have had some influence in this decision. Still, internships at the Ministry are extremely competitive. Most Hogwarts graduates spend a few years vying for them, as most employers in the Wizarding World use in-house training and NEWTs to create qualified employees. Annabeth is one of the few to go to University, and seeing as Wizarding Universities are few and far between, almost no witches and wizards have degrees above the Hogwarts level.

"I love the department that I'm in!" Frank extolls, crouching down to cuddle Blackjack. Annabeth observes, to her great pleasure and satisfaction, that his face lights up when he begins to talk about a bill that he's on the staff for, which intends to preserve the bowtruckle population.

He's still talking about it when Rachel knocks on the door. Annabeth, who stands closest to it, opens it to see the eccentric redhead holding up an enormous bottle of project glue.

"You're going to run out tonight," she says when Annabeth's eyes focus on the bottle. "I thought I would save Percy a trip to the shop."

"That's very kind," Annabeth begins, herding her inside, "but I never run out of glue. I have tons of it. Really."

"Well, now you have more," observes Rachel, dashing over to Frank to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, don't worry, Frank. She loves you too."

He turns bright red, looking around to make sure that Hazel isn't there.

"She and Leo haven't arrived," Piper says, trying to be helpful, but Frank just looks more anxious. He gapes at Piper like he's a fish out of water.

"So, er, how are you liking teaching at Hogwarts?" Percy asks to cover the embarrassment of the situation. Everybody knows Frank has a thing for Hazel. _Everybody_. "Is the Divination program treating you well?"

Rachel brightens.

"Yes!"

As she launches into a detailed explanation of all she has learned in her time as a Divination assistant, Annabeth moves over to her project and checks the glue, just in case. When she tips the bottle over to add glue to one of the pieces, she comes up dry.

Okay, seriously?

"Hey, this conversation is fantastic!" Annabeth chirps, causing all heads to swivel towards her. "But I was wondering if we could have it while working on the project?"

She turns to the skyscraper that she's been assigned to design and build. It's a little bigger than the average one that her peers will be making.

Just a little.

"Wait, what?" Frank says, while Rachel gets to her knees and begins gluing windows.

"I have a chart with different assignments for you guys," Annabeth says. "So… let's talk and work at the same time! It'll be fun. I promise."

"That's the reason you called us over here?" Frank asks, looking shocked. Jason pointedly hands him the wine bottle.

"Chug," he advises. "It's gonna be a long-ass night."

"You don't chug wine," Frank tells Jason. Piper leans forward.

"Frank. Chug."

Annabeth smiles discreetly as she pulls out her chart.

(ooo)

The flat is cold and dark when Annabeth gets home, leading her to think that Piper isn't home. She flicks on all of the lights, creating a warm glow over their flat. Even though Annabeth loves being surrounded by the people that she cares about, it's difficult to be around them all of the time. Her friends are her family, to an extent that she's not sure any of them feel as much as she does. They all have variously solid backgrounds with their parents. But Annabeth? Annabeth never felt like she had anybody until Piper and Percy had befriended her and brought the rest of the gang into her life.

Most of her childhood, however, had been spent in solitude- a loneliness that no amount of house elves could ever solve because she hadn't been allowed to really interact with them anyways. The chaos that living with Piper, Percy, and Jason provides is something that Annabeth just isn't accustomed to. She craves the moments of solitude that studying gives her, naturally introverted due to her upbringing.

Nobody really knows that about her. Well, probably. She's never overtly said it to Percy, but Merlin knows what he's figured out about her. He seems to know everything. It shocks Annabeth sometimes. Knocks her out of her own skin.

She thinks that she's alone, but when she opens the door to her bedroom, she's surprised to see Piper curled up on the bed. At first, Annabeth thinks that her best friend is sleeping. Yet Piper sits up as the light is cast into the room, creating a glow around her. She blinks, her eyes slow and confused. Sluggish.

"Were you sleeping?" Annabeth asks, setting her purse on the floor beside the door. Piper shakes her head.

"I can't sleep."

She seems exhausted. Annabeth immediately sits on the bed, wrapping Piper's small, limp body in her arms.

"Have you slept since he left?" She shakes her head again. "He's going to be fine, Piper."

"He hasn't been with them long enough to go on a long term mission," Piper says, sounding empty. "They're setting him up to die. They don't care."

"Oh, no," Annabeth says, shaking her head vigorously. "That's just not true. Jason is powerful and strong and smart and the auror department would never send him out on an actual long-term mission unless they thought that he was prepared. Ever. There is no scenario in which Jason isn't ready for this."

"I can't lose him," Piper whispers. "I know we get into arguments, and sometimes I feel like he doesn't love me as much as I love him, and some days we both want to give up, but… I still couldn't imagine my life without him. I'm not ready to give up a future with him. I never will be."

Annabeth doesn't say anything because she knows exactly what Piper is talking about. It hits her somewhere that hurts more than she would wish to admit.

"Hey, Annabeth, did you steal my t-shirt with the red dra- oh. Hey, Piper."

Percy looks totally befuddled at the sight of Piper curled up in Annabeth's arms, looking thin and anxious.

"Hi, Percy."

She doesn't look at him. Percy glances anxiously over at Annabeth, his eyes muted by the haze of his confusion. Annabeth mouths one word, Jason's name, and recognition dawns in Percy's eyes. It's not like he and Annabeth had forgotten that Jason is gone, or that he is potentially in danger. But it had been four days and Piper had shown no outward reaction. They had all begun to settle into the rhythm of Jason not being there.

"I'll make tea!" Percy decides, wanting to be helpful. Annabeth nods gratefully. "Yeah. That's good. Soothing."

He looks extremely proud of himself as he backs out of the room and goes to Piper and Annabeth's kitchen to begin making tea. The two girls remain silent until he returns. Annabeth notes that he knows how she takes her tea. He also knows how Piper takes hers. Her fingers are weak as she wraps them around the cup, shaking slightly, and Annabeth suddenly realizes that she hasn't been paying any attention to whether or not Piper is eating. Shit.

"Jason wasn't scared when he left," Percy says, lying. "So you shouldn't be scared either."

It's a gamble, assuming that Jason wouldn't tell Piper how afraid he is, but they know him well enough to concur that Jason would prefer to protect Piper from any negative feelings he had towards his auror mission. He likes to keep a brave face- it's something that he values. He's prideful in it.

"Jason isn't scared of anything," says Piper, causing Percy to breathe a small sigh of relief. "He's ridiculous."

"He's scared of losing you," Annabeth puts in, running a soothing hand across Piper's braid. "So he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the future that he has with you."

As she says it, she looks up at Percy. His gaze is startlingly intense, but she knows from the pounding of her heart that her expression matches his. She's talking to Piper, but she's also talking to him. Annabeth doesn't want to let go of whatever she and Percy have. She wants it to stay this way forever- she wants to always be in love with him.

She loves him more than she's ever loved anybody else.

"You gotta keep it together for Jason, Piper," Percy puts in. "He's not gonna want to see you sad when he comes back, okay? He wants to come home to the girl that he left behind."

"We're just going to distract you," Annabeth decides. "How about this? I'll run to the Italian place around the corner and grab the ravioli that you like. Percy will hunt down his deck of cards for a rousing round of Exploding Snap and then leaf through the Household Charms book that I have in the kitchen so that we can cast regrowing spells should anybody's eyebrows be burned off."

Piper lets herself smile and even releases a small laugh at the look of shock on Percy's face.

"Annabeth Chase, is that you?"

"Percy," she says, warning.

"No, I distinctly remember you banning Exploding Snap after the Exploding Snap Incident of Sixth Year."

"It's for your own good!"

"Oh, no no no! You can't pull back now! I remember- I distinctly remember- you saying, 'You stupid idiots-' which is redundant by the way, love - 'You stupid idiots, we will never play Exploding Snap again.'"

"We can have a wizards duel instead," suggests Annabeth. "I'm sure Piper would love to watch as I charm _all _of your hair off. Loss of eyebrow would seem like a joke."

"So, do you know where the deck of cards is?"

Piper doubles over laughing. Annabeth and Percy get off of the bed and exchange victorious high fives as they go their separate ways, each to his or her own assigned task. While Jason is gone, they're going to protect her. That's their new job, it's their job every time he goes on a mission, and Annabeth is determined not to fail her.

(ooo)

Sally and Paul's house is one of Annabeth's favorite places. She thinks of it with the same magic that Percy thinks of Hogwarts- a second home in which everybody loves her and cares for her. Sally has accepted Annabeth from the first time they met, something that she will never stop being grateful for.

Annabeth likes the pictures of Percy that line the walls. She likes the blue couch that she can plop onto at any moment and sink into. Percy likes to tease her, on particularly lazy days, that she needs to use way too much energy to get off of that couch. But then he kisses the top of her head and takes her hand and pulls her up to him and she kisses his nose and he reminds her of why she's so glad to be in love with her best friend.

It is very possible that Annabeth's favorite part of the small, cozy cottage in which Percy grew up is Sally Jackson herself. Annabeth loves the moments when Percy is outside, grilling with Paul or playing with Blackjack, and it's just the two of them, sitting on the couch with tea and having conversations that Annabeth could never have with her real mum. If Percy is Annabeth's home, Sally is the roof over him, and Annabeth loves her for that.

Percy brings his fist up to knock on the door first, using the hand that isn't clenched in Annabeth's. The door swings open almost immediately, revealing a slightly disheveled Sally. She is covered in yellow frosting and using her apron to wipe it off of her cheek when she peers around Percy and Annabeth and says, "Where's my grandson?" in an excited voice.

"In the garden, mum," Percy says, rolling his eyes and kissing her on the cheek before stepping into the house. "Probably taking a leak in your lilies."

"Blackjack!" calls Sally, cupping her hand over her mouth. "Happy birthday, Annabeth!" she adds as an afterthought.

"Thank you," Annabeth laughs. "You didn't have to make me a cake."

Sally's face contorts in confusion.

"How did you know?"

"You're covered in yellow frosting."

"Well, don't be silly," Sally tells her, swooping down to pick up Blackjack as he skids to a stop in front of her. "You don't turn twenty every day."

"But," Percy says from the family room, looking up as the two women enter the house, "being in a relationship with me causes every day to feel like her birthday, so really, Annabeth's day isn't all that special."

"Oh, it's true," confirms Annabeth, plopping next to Percy on the loveseat. "Every time I come home from class, your son has confetti and party hats waiting for me."

"The poppers frightened her the first few times I used them, but she's gotten used to them by now."

"The same can't be said for Blackjack, unfortunately."

Paul and Sally exchange amused glances but don't comment, waiting for Percy and Annabeth to finish their banter. This is a common occurrence in their household. But it's comfortable. Normal. She's never felt like she could sink into the couch at her childhood home- the couches don't really move at all, actually. They're as stiff as Annabeth's mother. Whenever she and Percy visit, he always tries to be as bland as possible, stifling himself so that her mother won't hate him. The fact that he can't make puns for three courses straight is hard on both of them.

"So what are you looking forward to about being twenty?" Paul asks Annabeth. It's a little belittling, and the kind of question that you would ask a six-year-old, but Annabeth just plasters a smile onto her face because he and Sally have done more than their share to make her feel at home over the years. "Anything in particular?"

Annabeth shrugs.

"I'm enjoying life as it is right now," she says truthfully. "I like school, so even though I'd like to start a career, I'm also just… okay with right now. And then there's Percy. He's pretty fantastic."

He sticks his tongue out at her and she shakes her head, beaming.

"We might move in together in the next year," Percy supplies, turning back to his mum. "Piper and Jason are getting closer and closer to quitting their habit of using us as security blankets."

"So, that's a change," Paul says, looking at Sally pointedly. "See. Things are changing."

She releases a long puff of air.

"You want to do this now?"

"Do what now?" Percy demands, immediately catching on.

"Honey," Sally says, turning to face her son after spending a few seconds nonverbally communicating with Paul. "We're getting married this winter."

"What?" Percy manages to squeak out.

"We're having a wedding," Paul says, taking Sally's hands in his.

Percy looks helplessly over at Annabeth, his mouth slightly ajar. She frowns, not understanding why this is such a surprise. Percy's dad has been out of the picture for his entire life, and Sally has lived with Paul for years. This isn't new. This isn't surprising. She still can see how caught off guard he is in his expression.

"Percy?" Sally probes gently.

"Would you mind if we went for a quick walk?" Annabeth asks when he doesn't answer.

"No problem," she responds, nodding.

Annabeth grabs Percy's hand and walks to the door. Blackjack follows excitedly, hoping for a walk. Annabeth ignores him, focusing on pushing Percy through the door and getting him out of the cottage. Outside, the hot air envelopes them aggressively, but Percy still grabs her hand and holds onto it tightly. They walk down the front path and end up walking down the street, towards a little park in which small children are playing.

"Does this mean that they're going to have more kids?" Percy blurts out. His green eyes are startlingly wild when he looks at Annabeth. "That would be so fucking weird."

"I'm sure they're not going to have kids," Annabeth says appeasingly, sitting him down on a bench. "They're quite old, honey."

"Like, I was supposed to be the next one that announced a marriage in the family. Not them."

He's so frustrated that he doesn't notice how startled Annabeth is. She quickly rearranges her expression into something that is less shocked and more comforting, patting his shoulder before placing her head on it and cozying up to him the way she knows he likes. He sighs, pressing his lips to the top of her head before settling with his chin on it.

"I mean… they've been together for a very long time. It's nice, isn't it?" He makes a grunting sound. "Besides. I've always wanted to go to a muggle wedding."

"A muggle wedding?" Percy sounds startled. "How are wizard weddings different?"

"Well," Annabeth says, biting her lip as she thinks. She has to choose her words carefully. "Wizarding marriages are forever, unlike muggle ones. So they're kind of somber affairs, in a way. The actual service, at least."

"How are they forever?"

"We don't get divorces."

"Not that I'm… well, I don't think… what?"

"The wedding ceremony binds the magic of the bride and groom. So, if they decide that they can't be married anymore, they lose their magic. When you get married, your powers strengthen a little bit, and you can also use your own wand and your partner's wand interchangeably. But if you go back on that vow, the one that you make during the binding ceremony, you're about as useless as a squib. That way, people make themselves certain that they want to be with the other person forever. It means more, getting married as a witch and a wizard."

"But what if someone, like, cheats?" 

Annabeth shrugs.

"I think that the person who goes back on the vow loses his or her magic. If it's a mutual divorce, they both lose it. If it's because of the actions of one particular party, I think that the other person gets to keep his or her magic. It all has to do with text that you read before the binding ceremony. I'm not really sure what exactly it entails, but you have to read it before you sign so that you understand what you're getting yourself into."

He still seems confused.

"Binding ceremony?"

Annabeth laughs a little bit.

"You haven't really done any research on wizarding weddings, have you?"

"Should I feel weird about that? Honestly, I thought that it was the same as muggle weddings."

"No." She twists around to sweetly kiss his lips. He kisses back in a way that is both tentative and open, as though he's not sure if it's off limits to be doing something so intimate while talking about weddings.

"Okay, so. The bride and groom have a ceremony, usually before the actual wedding. Sometimes it's the night before, sometimes it's directly afterwards. And that's the binding ceremony. After that, they're technically bound together forever, and but there's a ceremony- sometimes religious, but not always- if they choose. It's more for decoration. The marriage is the binding ceremony."

He's quiet for a few moments, so Annabeth takes the time to survey the area. Her eyes trace the small children that play around the edge of the duck pond, giggling loudly as their parents chase after them, either yelling at them to get out of the water or taking too many pictures of their children.

"I don't know why I thought she wouldn't marry him."

"No?"

"I also don't know why I feel like she's betraying my dad."

"Oh. Percy."

"I know. I know! It's just… she was always mine, and Paul was the only one I had to share her with. But even when he was around, it never seemed like he was… infringing on that. Like, it was us against the world. But now it's us _and Paul_ against the world, and that feels like shit."

"But you grew up," Annabeth reminds him. "You left her for Hogwarts. And to have a life. With me." She stumbles on the last few words, feeling guilty as she does so. Does Sally feel the same way about Annabeth as Percy feels about Paul? If so, how brave must she be to accept Annabeth as a daughter like she has done? "She must have been lonely."

But Percy's expression is clearing as he looks down at Annabeth, something in her words registering in her eyes. His mouth parts slightly as he stares down at her.

"Yeah, she must have been" he says. "And you… you're kind of my life. I mean, I have other stuff. But you're… you. And I'm me. And we're _it_."

She elbows him.

"You blow me away with your eloquence, Seaweed Brain." But she kisses him all the same. "Are you ready to go congratulate your mum?"

"Maybe just a few more kisses."

She complies. Because, the secret is, he's her life too.

(ooo)

Jason already has the snacks laid out on the table when Annabeth pushes the door to his and Percy's flat open. It's an impressive array of junk food, disgusting in its own respect. But the junk food isn't the only thing that's impressive. Jason and Percy have moved the coffee table and covered the floor with sleeping bags and blankets, creating a type of fort in front of the television.

"This beautiful," Annabeth compliments, dropping her bag on the floor. From the couch, three boys mumble "franks" as they shove food into their respective mouths.

"Leo got here early to help us charm the TV bigger," Percy says, grinning as Annabeth leans down to kiss his cheek. Some of her hair falls forward and he wraps it around his finger, winding the strand before letting it go.

"The picture will be a bit distorted but it should be better than it was before."

It's ten minutes later that Piper bursts into the flat, her hair sectioned into two braids, bunny slippers on her feet.

"Guys," she says, stopping short when she sees them. "Where are your pajamas?"

"What's with the slippers?" Jason inquires, answering her question with a question.

"It's a movie night," she says like it's obvious. "You wear pajamas." This is greeted by silence. "It's just what you do."

The boys are staring at Piper like she's crazy, so Annabeth decides to take pity on her.

"Okay!" she says, clapping her hands together. "We'll all go change. Leo, you can borrow something of Jason's."

She taps Percy on the head before heading off into his bedroom in search of a pair of boxer shorts to wear. By the time he enters, she's already stolen the pair with little firebolts all over them and is plundering his drawers for a tank top to put on.

"Did you have a good class?" Percy asks, closing his door behind him and immediately taking off his pants. He reaches into a drawer and tugs out plaid pajama bottoms.

"Yes," Annabeth nods, releasing a celebratory 'ha!' as she finds the tank top that she's looking for. "How was work today?"

"The kids had a food fight. So, you know, pretty average."

She laughs lightly as she peels off her shirt and puts the other one on, then twists her hair into a sloppy bun on the top of her head. When she turns around, Percy is shirtless and searching for a pajama top on the floor of his bedroom. Annabeth lifts her eyes to the ceiling, praying for strength, before getting him a t-shirt from his dresser. He gives her a grateful smile and they head out of the room together.

Hazel and Frank seem to have gotten the pajama message- Hazel looks adorable in a purple pajama set, her hair separated into two bunches. Annabeth is pretty sure that Rachel is wearing pajamas as well, but she can never really be certain due to what Rachel wears on a daily basis. After the preliminary greetings, Leo lazily waves his wand to begin the first movie and the eight of them settle onto the couch, just as Grover bursts into the flat, looking flustered.

"Did I miss it?"

"Nope," Percy says. "But you might miss all of the marshmallows if the way Hazel is going is any indication."

She puts a hand over her mouth in alarm.

"He's just teasing," Annabeth promises. "You know Percy. He's just jealous of the extremely long shifts that you have at work." She says the last part pointedly so that her boyfriend will figure out that it's for his benefit and not Hazel's.

"No I'm-" He catches her expression. "You're right. I am. Please eat all of the marshmallows, Hazel."

Looking exhausted yet grateful, Hazel stuffs another handful into her mouth.

Being a pureblood, Annabeth hasn't seen many movies, so the muggleborns and half-bloods are sure to explain more confusing plot points when she's confused. She's not the only one- Piper sees a lot of movies because her father is in the industry, but Jason, who is also a half-blood, hasn't seen very many because both of his parents went to Hogwarts, one as a muggleborn.

Half of the movie is spent talking about how it's filmed, having discussions about the plot, or sidebars about their lives. The other half is Percy and Leo making sassy comments, trying to crack everybody up. They're all squished together and the food vanishes too fast and it's kind of hot because there are nine people in their tiny flat, but it's kind of perfect at the same time.

As Annabeth curls into her boyfriend's side and quietly sips her tea, she can't help but feel grateful. Out of all the knowledge and magic and power that Hogwarts has given them, she thinks that this friendship might be the best thing it had offered up.

(ooo)

Saturday is the best day of the week and always has been. When Annabeth wakes up in the morning- always before her boyfriend- it's usually 10 o'clock in the morning and Jason, forever a morning person, has made an enormous breakfast for all of them. She gets to lie in bed, listening to the birds chirp in harmony with Percy's breaths, until he finally blinks himself awake, immediately chastising her for not waking him up when she first opened her eyes.

It's a pattern. Annabeth loves patterns.

Today, when Percy stretches out in a yawn, the sheet slipping teasingly down his waist, Annabeth slumps over, curling into his side in an effort to fall back asleep. She's been having a rough semester. She's kind of exhausted. Annabeth wishes that she could have something to look forward to, but Christmas has come and gone and her summer is going to be marred down by an internship. And, yes, she's excited for the internship, but Percy's going to be on vacation from work. It would have been nice to spend more time with them.

They have spent five years having _exorbitant_ amounts of time together as a couple, and four and a half years before that, they had been close friends, always near each other. This past anniversary had been a marking period. They have been together for longer than they'd known each other before they got together.

But lately, Annabeth has been so busy with school and Percy has picked up some extra cash by teaching the little pureblood bastards that go to his school how to swim- they've formed a team, with Percy as the coach and the aforementioned pureblood bastards worshiping every word that he says. Between the two of them, though, they don't have much free time to be together anymore. Annabeth is sick of falling asleep at night with a Percy that has conked out hours ago because he's exhausted from practice and she has been studying the entire night.

It feels like their schedules are currently incongruent and it's a disorienting feeling, one that's got the ground shaking underneath Annabeth. She's never had to schedule Percy into her days before- he's always fit effortlessly. For years, they were together for classes, meals, and study times. But right now? Right now they're on different roads and it's difficult to find a fork for them to meet up in.

Saturdays are different. Saturdays are the one day of the week that they are able to spend time together. They used to make plans, like trips to the bar and movie nights with their friends. But now they just spend the day together, agreeing silently that this is the one day of the week that they are taking to be an "us." She likes the fact that they make a conscious decision to make their relationship important. It feels good. It feels like they're doing something about their insane schedules. And, other than that, what is there to really complain about? Their lives are uncomplicated. Their life together is not messy.

They are Percy and Annabeth, and they always have been.

"What are we doing today?" Annabeth asks rhetorically, because Percy never plans. And he currently has a large amount of blanket pooling around his waist, revealing his bare chest to her and she suddenly thinks that they might not be leaving the bed at all today if she has anything to say about it.

"Food," Percy says decisively. "Today we are doing food."

He throws back the covers and searches for his pajama bottoms on the floor of his bedroom, tugging them on when he finds them. A moment later, he's kissing her on the cheek before padding into the kitchen, leaving Annabeth wondering what happened to her leisurely morning in bed.

Nevertheless, she gets out of bed and puts on one of Percy's t-shirts before following him into the kitchen, yawning loudly and obviously. Jason and Piper are nowhere in sight, but Percy is standing at the counter, pouring two glasses of orange juice.

"Where are our roommates?" Annabeth asks bemusedly. The table is laden with breakfast foods, but Jason isn't there.

Percy doesn't seem as concerned. He just shrugs.

"Probably off shagging somewhere. What?" he asks in response to Annabeth's huff. "They are!" She shakes her head. "Hey, can you go get the Prophet while you're up?"

After skipping over to Percy and giving him a soft good morning kiss on the lips, Annabeth heads to the front door and opens it to reveal the Prophet sitting on the ground in front of their flat, just like always. But when she lifts it up, the dark blue ring box that sits underneath it is not so usual. Slowly, Annabeth picks it up, popping the box open with a twitch of her thumb. Inside lies a diamond engagement ring.

An engagement ring.

When she closes the door slowly behind herself and walks back into the kitchen, Percy is kneeling on the tile floor, a cocky smile on his face as he stares up at her. All at once, a gush of love rushes up to Annabeth. She loves this boy so, so much. She's never loved anyone more than she loves him.

"Annabeth," he begins, voice wobbly. It makes her laugh, but then she covers her mouth with her hand out of respect for Percy. "I have loved you from that first moment on the platform, I swear to god. I have spent so much time loving you, so much of my life, and that's what I want to do for the rest of it. I want to love you until your hair has turned to silver and I'm walking with a cane and our great-grandchildren dread coming to visit us. So… with that future in mind… will you marry me?"

The answer shouldn't be so easy, but it is. Annabeth feels tears spring up in her eyes as she kneels to the floor in front of him.

"Percy… no."

His face goes blank almost immediately, protecting himself from her. He never does that. Anxiety claws at Annabeth's stomach, shredding it to pieces as she stares at him, not sure of what to do.

"I… what?"

"We're too young to get married."

"We're twenty."

"And I'm still at Uni! I don't have a career yet; I don't have a place where I'm _established_."

"You're established here," he reminds her. "With me and Jason and Piper. We've _established_ a family."

There's already so much bitterness in his voice. She wonders what is going to happen after she says what she's going to say next.

"Look, I'm not saying that we're never going to get married, Percy. I'm just saying that I'm not sure if marriage is what I want right now."

"So we'll have a long engagement. Weddings take a year to plan anyways, right? So we wouldn't be married until we're almost twenty-two at least, and then we can wait long and-"

"I'm not sure if it's what's going to end up being important to me!" She cuts him off, trying to make him understand. Annabeth grabs his hand, pressing it against her heart to get his attention. "Percy, maybe I'm never going to want to get married! I might never want to have kids, either. I want to be successful in my field, and I'm willing to make sacrifices to have that."

He snatches his hand away as his face contorts in several different emotions. She waits, holding her breath, as his anger visibly rises.

"WHY DO_ I_ HAVE TO BE ONE OF THOSE SACRIFICES?"

Immediately, Annabeth's mouth drops open. Percy never yells. He's a laid back and easygoing boy, but right now his face is contorted in fury and his hands are shaking.

"You… you don't. I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm not ready to commit to anything right now. Not yet."

Percy gets up, brushing off his knees as he turns away from Annabeth, towards the refrigerator. She follows quickly, unwilling to be the only one vulnerable on the ground, like Percy had been when she had first come into the room.

"Shit, Annabeth. We've been together since we were fifteen. How can you not be sure if you want to spend the rest of your life with me? This shouldn't be hard, okay? This isn't difficult or complicated. We've been together for five years. _Five._"

"You want to be a dad, and you want to have kids, and I don't know if that's what I want yet!"

It bursts out of her quickly, these words in such plain sight, and Annabeth wishes that she could stuff them back into her mouth but she can't. She's been holding back from saying this for such a long time, trying to ignore the fact that it could easily tear her and Percy apart.

"I don't _care_ about any of that stuff!" he argues, turning around to look at her earnestly. "Not as long as we're together. I don't care if we have kids when we're twenty-three or when we're forty as long as we're having kids together. That's what I want- that's all I want."

"You aren't listening," Annabeth says, getting closer to him. "Percy, I might never want kids."

"Okay. That's fine. I don't care."

"You want kids!"

"Not more than I want you."

"I'M NOT SAYING YES!" Annabeth shouts. "I'm not, okay? I don't know if I want to marry you right now and I don't think I'm going to know for a while."

"Well then," he says, eyes going to the floor. "Maybe you should leave."

Her stomach bottoms out.

"What?"

Percy looks up again, his eyes burning in her direction.

"I have known that I want to be married to you since the first time we kissed… it felt right, and I knew that our friendship would translate to a relationship and that our chemistry would sustain us and I just… I got through Hogwarts by dreaming of a future with you. Whenever we planned anything about life after Hogwarts, I was planning it as the life we would have together. And the fact that you weren't doing the same thing shows me… I don't know what. I don't know. I don't want to be with somebody who doesn't love me as much as I love her."

She wants to argue that this is not remotely the point, but Percy is glaring at her, his arms crossed defensively over his chest. Annabeth whips around and hauls the door open, throwing her body out of the flat before Percy can hurt her again. She slams her fist against the door to her and Piper's flat before turning the knob and walking in, not caring about what she walks in on.

"Congratulations!"

Piper pops out of nowhere, cheering for Annabeth and Percy, but one look at the tears streaming down Annabeth's face tells her that the proposal hasn't gone as anyone expected.

"You knew about this?" Annabeth demands, furiously swiping at the tears on her face. "Why didn't you say anything to me?"

"Oh, shit," Jason says, emerging from Piper's bedroom. With one look at Annabeth's face, he sprints across the hall to his and Percy's flat.

"Annabeth," Piper sighs, dragging Annabeth over to the couch. "Why did you say no?"

Ten minutes ago, she had all of the reasons piled onto a list, one that was neatly composed in her mind. Now, however, she just wants to cry.

Piper lets her.

(ooo)

Hazel's shifts tend to go late, but Annabeth doesn't have a problem with cooking dinner and waiting until nine at night to eat it. Sometimes, if Hazel isn't home by ten, Annabeth will sit cross-legged on the couch and eat by herself, refusing to turn on the radio in spite of the stifling silence. Turning on the radio would feel like conceding to how lonely she is, and Annabeth doesn't want anybody to know how truly alone she feels, including herself.

When Hazel comes home early, it's usually only so she can sleep through the entire day, which is why Annabeth is surprised when she unlocks the door at 7:30, looking exhausted but excited as she notices Annabeth sitting at the kitchen table.

"Is your shift over?" Annabeth asks, checking the clock by the stove. She usually waits until later to cook. Hazel, after all, is saving lives every day, and the _least _Annabeth can do is provide her with nourishment so she can go back and do it all over again.

"I got an earlier one today," Hazel admits, reaching into the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. She twists the top of and downs it in one gulp, getting some water on her Healer-in-training robes in the process. "I have plans tonight."

"Date with Frank?" asks Annabeth knowingly, trying not to feel her stomach lurching as soon as she says it. She hasn't seen Frank in four months. Actually, she hasn't seen most of their friends in four months. Sometimes Annabeth, Piper, Rachel, and Hazel have a girl's night, but that is the extent of Annabeth's socialization with the people that she had gone to Hogwarts with. Jason, Frank, Leo, and Grover are mysteries to her, vanishing quickly from her life, if not efficiently. She still feels muddled without them.

"No," Hazel says, shaking her head. "Um. We're going the the pub."

"We?" Annabeth asks, quirking an eyebrow.

"You know," leads Hazel, trying to get Annabeth to see it without having to say it herself. "Me, Piper, Jason, Leo, Frank, Rachel-"

"And Percy."

"Yes. Percy, too. It was his idea, actually. Apparently he's been going to the pub a lot lately, so we all thought we would accompany him and see what all the hoopla is about, and then we eventually realized that it's a halfway decent place to hang out on a Friday night, so… maybe it's time you come with us, Annabeth."

She can see that Hazel has been leading up to this for most of the conversation, but it still catches Annabeth off guard. A humorless laugh escapes her as she gawks at Hazel.

"You think I should go to the pub… with _Percy_?"

"Well," Hazel says, voice slightly more high-pitched than usual. "You did date him for five years and love him for ten years. It seems like that's a connection that you wouldn't want to lose just because you aren't, necessarily, together anymore."

"You're so, so wrong," Annabeth says flatly. "Just because we aren't together, doesn't mean I don't love him. He's probably completely over me, and I'm going to be the fool that shows up at the pub with a stupid haircut and a broken heart."

Hazel gapes at her slightly, head cocked to the side.

"You… you think that Percy doesn't love you anymore?"

It's difficult to tell Hazel that Annabeth merely fears Percy not loving her; she fears it more than she fears her own loneliness. She cannot imagine a world in which Percy Jackson does not love Annabeth Chase, and the idea of finding out whether or not this is a reality is a terrifying concept.

"I don't know if he does or not."

"He wanted to marry you."

"And then I made him angry."

"You didn't make him angry!" Hazel refutes, plopping down at the table across from Annabeth. "You broke his heart. You just… broke it. But he broke you too, and you guys need to fix each other. Come to the pub, Annabeth."

"We aren't going to get back together."

Hazel narrows her eyes.

"Why not?"

"Because… well, listen to yourself. I broke him."

"But you changed your mind, didn't you?" asks Hazel, scrutinizing her very carefully. "You said that you didn't want to be with Percy because you weren't sure if he was what you were going to want once you were out of school. Now that you know what it's like to be without him, hasn't your mind changed?"

The honest answer is a loud, resounding 'yes,' but Annabeth has gotten herself far too used to not being with Percy to entertain the concept of being with him again.

"He hasn't seen my hair. He's going to think that I did it because I was trying to get rid of him."

"You did cut it because you were trying to get rid of him." 

Annabeth drags her fingers through the curls that fall around her shoulders. She misses her hair desperately, but she's gotten pretty good at pretending that she doesn't.

"I cut it because I was trying to lose a piece of myself, too," she says quietly.

Hazel sticks her hand out and pulls Annabeth up. She picks out an outfit for Annabeth, a simple, pretty dress that Annabeth wears all the time. Together, they put makeup on Annabeth's face and try to keep her calm. And when they're finally pulling open the door to the pub, Annabeth collects courage from the light, happy presence that Hazel brings.

It's a crowded pub, but they're such a large group that it's quite easy to find all of the gang gathered. Piper is seated on Jason's lap to preserve room, and Leo and Frank have their heads tucked close together as they speak loudly over the music. Rachel is saying something that makes both Piper and Grover laugh, and Frank is searching the room for Hazel. When he sees her, a smile immediately washes over his face. Then, his eyes land on Annabeth.

The grin vanishes. Frank instantly flicks his eyes over to Percy, who hasn't noticed her yet. He is sitting silently at the end of the table, clutching onto the neck of a beer bottle and keeping his eyes trained on the dark wood of the round table they are seated at. Annabeth's heart seems to skip a beat when she sees him, and despite her dread at seeing Percy, her legs seem to speed up, trying to get to him faster.

Percy looks up before Annabeth reaches him, his head immediately swivelling around to search through the crowd. She stops where she is, causing Hazel to slam into her just as Percy's eyes find her. When he sees her, he swallows deeply, eyes turning panicked and vulnerable. Annabeth feels her entire body react to seeing him- she is suddenly overcome with love, and shame, and longing, and lust, and an onslaught of depression that she hasn't been letting herself feel.

He has a small beard on his chin, more like thick stubble, and Annabeth stares at it as Percy stares at her, drinking in her presence. She wants to give him a few minutes to get used to this. She, after all, had been emotionally prepared to see him. Percy had been thrown into this out of the blue.

It's Hazel that pushes Annabeth forward, doing so with a slight eyeroll. Annabeth pulls up a chair from a neighboring table and plops it next to a delighted Piper, who immediately goes to hug her.

"Annabeth!" Jason says, voice polite. "Long time, no see."

"I've been having a quiet few months," Annabeth says, trying to ignore the lump in her throat. "Studying a lot. You know how crazy I get during the school year."

"But now you're back?" Jason asks, watching Piper's hands smooth down Annabeth's hair. Her eyes flick over to Percy.

"Maybe," she says carefully. "It depends."

He nods because he knows what she means.

"You should talk to him," Jason whispers when Percy gets up to get a stronger drink. "Please, Annabeth." 

Annabeth frowns.

"That might be too much to ask."

"No, you should," Piper cuts in. "We miss you, Annabeth. You can't hide from the group forever. You belong with us."

Still, it takes two fire whiskeys and half a butterbeer before Annabeth is feeling truly up to talking to Percy. She catches up with their other friends first, cognizant of her ex-boyfriend's eyes on her. She won't allow herself to look over at him, not wanting to catch his eyes and remember what it is like to fall to pieces in their wake. Like, the good kind of falling to pieces. The kind that he picked up for her and put back together in an order that only the two of them understood together.

The more she sits there, the more convinced Annabeth is that Percy Jackson is her soulmate. The only problem, of course, is that Annabeth doesn't believe in soulmates. She never has. She believes in falling in love, in chemistry, in time and luck and hope. She doesn't believe in soulmates.

Percy does, though.

When he gets up and stumbles towards the door, Annabeth knows that it's time to follow. She pats Frank mindlessly on the shoulder before getting out of her chair and ambling after her ex-boyfriend, slightly unsteady on her feet.

He's leaning against the wall of a side alley when Annabeth finds him, holding onto what must be his fifth bottle of pumpkin beer. His eyes don't even focus on her when she too puts her back against the stone, keeping her hands and elbows tucked in so that no part of her touches him. Percy keeps his eyes cast to the ground, even when she speaks.

"You grew a beard."

"You cut your hair," he shoots back, voice hard. Annabeth nods slowly.

"I don't like it."

Percy looks up, green eyes pouring into her. Ten years of friendship, down the drain. Ten years of love, wasted.

"I like it."

She feels her knees weaken almost immediately at the rough scrape of his voice; it tugs at something hopeful that Annabeth had buried within herself. It isn't the voice of the boy that had proposed to her four months ago, but it is that of a man who has lost everything and thinks that he has no chance of regaining it.

Annabeth ducks her head down, overwhelmed by the grate of his feelings for her.

"I'm sorry," she says.

"So we're just gonna jump right in, then?"

"Shut it, Jackson. Let me apologize." He raises his hands in surrender. Stares at her intently. "I'm sorry that I didn't know for sure."

"It's okay," he shrugs. "I was putting too much faith in a future that you didn't see. It wasn't your fault."

She shakes her head.

"Percy…"

"I don't care, Annabeth!" he says harshly. "Just… the last four months have been lonely and I've gotten used to being alone and maybe it's a good idea if I stay that way."

When she's this drunk, it's easy to reach up to his cheek and stroke it with her thumb.

"I hate the idea of you being lonely."

"And you weren't?" he asks skeptically. "C'mon, Annabeth. I know you. You weren't exactly a social butterfly these past few months."

"Well," Annabeth says, sliding her hand from his cheek to his hair. Percy freezes. "Maybe we should stop being alone, hmm?"

Immediately, Percy's eyes skate down to Annabeth's lips.

"Were you with anyone?" he asks, words carefully enunciated so that she knows exactly what he is asking her.

Annabeth tilts her head forward and leans her forehead against his. The warm summer wind seems to push her closer to him; she is suddenly desperate to touch and be touched. Even with stubble and too long hair and a seemingly permanent scowl, Percy Jackson is beautiful to her.

"No. You?"

"Don't make me laugh."

"I wasn't trying to."

He gets closer, hand coming up to touch her cheek.

"This doesn't mean we're getting back together."

Annabeth shakes her head, trying not to smile.

"Of course it doesn't."

"No strings attached."

"Exactly."

"We're just lonely."

"Mhhmm."

"And we already know that we're good together."

"So good," she murmurs as his head dips to kiss her neck.

It may be the worst idea they've ever had, but that fact doesn't hit them until forty-five minutes later, when they're lying in bed together and have come to the abrupt realization that nothing they ever do is 'no strings attached.'

Percy is just staring at her, his hard exterior shattered by sex that wasn't fucking, not the way it was supposed to be, and Annabeth is staring right back at him, her face slightly flushed. It's awkward, the gobsmacked look with which Percy is staring at her, but she can't do anything but swallow and beg herself not to touch him.

Touching is what got them into this in the first place.

"I'm sorry," is the first thing he says, and he sounds so irreparable when juxtaposed against the strong man that Annabeth had just had sex with. "Shit, I'm sorry."

Unable to help herself, she kisses his chin, trying to heal some piece of what has been damaged.

"Why are you sorry?" she asks soothingly, seeing his eyes fill with emotion at his first piece of loving contact in four months. She can see unshed tears glittering in them and reaches up to cup his chin so that he is forced to look at her. "Percy. Talk to me. Please." 

He grabs a pillow and buries his head within it, breaking free from her grasp.

"I threw a temper tantrum when you didn't want to marry me instead of listening to you and really hearing what you had to say-"

"Percy-"

"No. I've been thinking about this for four months. Annabeth, I pretended that I didn't love you enough to wait for you, but the truth is, I do. And I pretended that you didn't love me enough to be sure, but I don't think you were running from me. I think you were running from an uncertain future, and I was apart of that. I think you've always loved me."

"I have," she says, voice cracking on the second word. Percy nods.

"We can't not love each other, can we?" he asks sadly, but he's starting to smile sheepishly, as though guilty for being so in love with her.

Annabeth shakes her head, starting to smile.

"No."

She wants to tack a "Seaweed Brain" onto the end of it, but she thinks it might be too soon to start teasing him. Maybe tomorrow.

(ooo)

Two nights later, Annabeth is at the flat that she had lived in with Piper. She is wrapped up in her comforter, the one that belongs on her Queen sized bed, and is laughing into a pillow as Piper recounts a story from her day at work. In spite of the fact that they're having girl's night in, Annabeth's hair is floating down around her shoulders, she's fully dressed, and she's wearing eye makeup.

Percy is right across the hall.

"Do you think he's going to ask you to get back together?" Piper questions, and Annabeth startles.

"Talk about a non sequitur," she laughs, tilting her head, confused.

"Not really," shrugs Piper. "I mean, it's obviously the only thing that's on your mind."

Annabeth straightens her posture importantly, folding her hands more neatly in her lap.

"That's not true."

"No, it's okay!" Piper laughs kindly. "I promise, I'm not upset. I fully understand… if I were going through what you're going through right now, I wouldn't be able to sit through a story either."

"It sounds like you're accusing me of being boy crazy," Annabeth observes, narrowing her eyes. Piper widens her eyes and shakes her head.

"Oh merlin. I would _never_. You are Annabeth fucking Chase and you don't need a man."

They're still laughing when Jason unlocks the door of the flat and walks in, dropping a kiss on the top of Piper's head.

"Hey you," she says, twisting around to kiss his lips. "What are you up to tonight?"

"Is that your not-so-subtle way of telling me to get away from your girl's night?" She taps her nose twice. "Okay, I get it. Percy is about to take Blackjack for a walk. I'll go with him."

Annabeth feels her heart stutter at the sound of his name. She throws a hand out, grabbing Jason's arm as he starts to walk away.

"Actually," she says, feigning casualness, "What if I went for that walk and you and Piper had some time alone?"

Jason scratches his head, exchanging a hapless look with his girlfriend. When she nods vigorously, he nods too.

"Yeah, sure. Have fun."

Annabeth is out the door before he's finished speaking. She takes a breath before knocking on the door to Percy and Jason's flat, feeling anxiety churn in her stomach. But Percy opens the door immediately, and the shy smile that he gives her reminds Annabeth of a smaller Percy, one who didn't have stubble or a low voice or an intimate knowledge of every single piece of Annabeth. He's gotten a haircut since the last time she saw him, but he still has scruff on his face. Percy is wearing a green and white striped shirt that brings out his eyes and those jeans that hug his arse just right and she suddenly doesn't feel nearly cute enough to be in his presence.

His eyes are timid and sweet as he shoves his hands into his pocket and _looks _at her. Just gazes at her, eyes flicking up and down her body, taking her in. She wants to shove him back into his flat and slam the door behind them and kiss him until she's breathless and remind him of every reason he that has to be with her. Instead, she tucks a short strand of hair behind her ear and says,

"I heard you were going for a walk?"

He perks up immediately.

"Oh! Yeah. Wanna come?"

_Yes please. _Annabeth turns red at her thought process. This is ridiculous. Yes, they'd been apart for a long time, but it's not like they're together right now. She can't be thinking about this. And it's Percy- just Percy. Percy Jackson, her best friend since first year and the man that she's been with for five years. There's no need for this absurdity.

Then again, she's never quite had to lust after him before, and it's an interesting phenomenon. They'd gotten together when they were fifteen; both virgins, both insanely unprepared for the committed relationship that they were about to embark on. And as Annabeth had gotten older, she'd never had to want for physical contact. If she needed something from her boyfriend, he was only happy to give it to her.

This is different. This is knowing what sex is- what it's like with Percy; what it _means _with him- and not being able to come out and ask for it. This is wanting him and not knowing whether she's going to be able to get him. This is brand new and, in that, both heartbreaking and exciting. She'd never wanted to get to this place with Percy. But, now that they're here and they're twenty years old and _wanting _someone like this? It's kind of amazing, in its own desperate way.

"Er- yes," she says quickly, shifting her head so that her hair will cover her blush. "I would love to come. On a walk. With you."

Oh _shit shit shit._ Is this her attempt at flirting? Is this what Annabeth Chase is like when she's trying to flirt? Banter, she can do, but she's never had to do this before. She and Percy were best friends, and by the time they got together, their friends were already referring to them as an old married couple.

"Great," Percy says, mercifully oblivious to her plight. "I'll just grab Blackjack."

The animal appears around the door only a few minutes later, tongue lolling out of his mouth as he yips quietly to show his enthusiasm for his walk. When he sees Annabeth, he launches into a full out frenzy, barking eagerly at the sight of her. Without thinking, Annabeth drops to her knees and begins playing with the crup. He rolls onto his back and opens his legs so that she can stroke his tummy, forgoing all dignity.

"Hi, baby," Annabeth says, scratching him under his chin. "Hello!"

"He missed you," Percy notes as he locks the door to the flat.

"I thought he would forget me," Annabeth admits.

"Nah," says Percy, offering her a hand to pull her up. "You're kind of unforgettable."

For a moment, they stare at each other. Then Annabeth clears her throat.

"So… walk?"

"Walk," Percy nods in conformation.

They leave the building and head down the dark street, letting themselves vanish into the warm summer evening. Blackjack trots proudly in front of them, occasionally stopping to sniff at things that he finds interesting. Annabeth and Percy start out silent, but eventually begin to make comforting small talk. They fall easily into the banter that they had grown accustomed to over the course of their friendship; their rapport is one of Annabeth's favorite things about their relationship. When he talks to her, she is funnier. When she talks to him, he is smarter. It's how they've always worked.

This is different from the heady passion that they had experienced the other night, both slightly intoxicated by alcohol and each other. This is the easy love that they'd had for such a long time. The fact that it is still here is only further serves to certify what Annabeth wants to say.

Percy beats her to it.

"I got a new job."

Annabeth's eyes widen.

"Really? That's wonderful!"

He quirks a half-smile.

"It's at Hogwarts, Annabeth."

Percy has always wanted to work at Hogwarts, but that means… that means that everything is going to change, doesn't it? He's going to have to go live up at the school. They aren't going to live across the hall from each other anymore.

"So… you're going to live there?"

He squints, tilting his head to the side.

"Yeah, I think so. I can also get a flat in Hogsmeade, just as long as I'm there to do the patrols that the school assigns me. Not all of the professors live at the school. But I guess it depends."

"Depends on what?" Annabeth asks, watching him closely.

Percy can't meet her eyes.

"On whether… somebody else is gonna be living with me, I guess." He pauses. "Like, if I wanna live at the school, I can't have a significant other or a roommate. So I have to decide whether I'm going to live in an apartment or, you know, live at the school by myself."

Annabeth grows quiet, and Percy doesn't ask her to say anything. She lets herself consider, very deeply, whether she is ready for this. She can practically feel his nervousness at her lack of response, but she doesn't make any move to assure him. This is about the two of them, and both of them together, and both of them as individuals. But right now, Annabeth needs to make it about herself.

When Percy stops to let Blackjack sniff at the bottom of a lamppost, she just comes out with it.

"I think we belong together, Percy."

He looks up, startled.

"What?"

Her heart sinks as she begins to wonder if she had completely misinterpreted _everything_.

"I… I…"

No, she can't say it a second time. His urgent gaze is imploring her to repeat it, but Annabeth just shakes her head and bites her lip, allowing her eyes to drift downward.

"I want to be with you." His voice is hoarse when he says it. She looks up. "I don't care if we never get married or never have kids. If you want to focus on your career, I'm not going to stop you from doing that. If you think kids are going to get in the way… okay. Okay, fine. I don't need them. I'm going to be a teacher- I _am_ a teacher. I just want you. I just want to be there for you, every day and every night, and I want you to want me there too."

She nods, tears springing into her eyes as she reaches forward to press her lips against his. Out of habit, Percy winds a hand into her hair, untangling the knots with his fingers. He sucks in a startled breath when he finds the curls at the ends resting around Annabeth's shoulders as opposed to her elbows.

"Sorry!" she says hurriedly, pulling away from him. "Sorry, sorry."

His brows crease.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"I cut it."

"Because of me," he probes. It's not a question, but Annabeth nods anyways.

"I know you like it lo-"

He cuts her off.

"It isn't about me, Wise Girl."

"Well, I hate it," Annabeth says flatly.

He kisses her sweetly, so much passion within it even though it's chaste.

"It'll grow back," he reminds her, brushing a thumb across her cheek. "We have so much time."

(ooo)

They leave a sock on the door of the flat for two days and three nights- Friday night into Saturday into Sunday. He runs his lips over her skin as he tells her about his new job; about the new friend that Blackjack made; about the time that Percy accidentally spat gum into the hair of one of his favorite students. She is reminded, quite dizzyingly, of his ability to have her laughing hysterically one moment and moaning the next.

She sucks in air just as desperately as she breathes him in.

(ooo)

It's Annabeth's idea, but Jason helps. He's the one that sneaks into Percy's bedroom while he's at work and finds the engagement ring that had been sized to Annabeth's finger months ago, unbeknownst to her.

"He had it hidden with his old Hogwarts robes," chuckles Jason, and that's what gives Annabeth the idea. After all, Percy has two great loves of his life: Annabeth Chase, and Hogwarts. They are irrevocably twined together.

And she's about to tie them even more.

Percy doesn't have to start work until the September term, so they pass most of the summer looking for flats in Hogsmeade and trying to decide where they're going to be making their first home together. After they visit a particular one, Annabeth walks into Percy's bedroom to find a few of his things in boxes. That's when she realizes how real it is. That's when she realizes that she's never going to run away from him again.

"We should go put down a deposit," Annabeth suggests in early August. "Don't you want to get settled before the term starts?"

He looks up, excited.

"Do you know which place you want?"

She knows which place he wants, and she knows that it has all of the features that Annabeth requires, and she knows that she's already imagining how she's going to decorate it, a thrill rolling through her as she imagines their bedroom and the living room and all of the opportunities that come from starting over again.

"I do," she says.

They sign the papers three and a half hours later and it doesn't feel like it's too fast because it isn't too fast. Afterwards, they stroll along Hogsmeade, catching a quick meal in The Three Broomsticks. It feels odd to know that they have a home right down the street. Annabeth teases Percy that he shouldn't be living so close to Honeydukes, which he agrees with, pouting slightly.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Percy asks when they've finished their meal, and it really couldn't play better into Annabeth's plans.

"How about a walk around the Hogwarts grounds?" she inquires as they lay a tip down on the wooden table.

"The grounds are protected," Percy reminds her, clasping her hand in his own even though he's looking at her like she's crazy.

"Right, right," she says, mocking seriousness. Then, a mischievous smile spreads across her lips. "But I do know one way of getting in to the school."

Twenty minutes later, they are through the Whomping Willow and are casually strolling along the perimeter of the lake, trying to pretend that they are students.

"I hope you're enjoying this," Percy says seriously. "I could be fired for it."

Annabeth stoops down and grabs some grass, lifting it up so Percy can see.

"A souvenir," she says at his inquisitive look. "From the very first time that Percy Jackson actually gave a shit about rule breaking."

He tries and fails to look offended.

"I must have cared at some point," he frowns, turning the corners of his lips down. "You make it sound like I was a troublemaker my entire life."

"Not your entire life," Annabeth concedes. "Just since I've known you."

Percy rolls his eyes.

"So… all my life."

"We met when we were eleven!" she reminds him, laughing.

"Yeah." His voice grows quieter. "But… I dunno… it kind of feels like my life began when I met you. Like nothing that happened before then… counts."

And she knows that this is it instinctively. There's no fabrication of the moment or purposeful leading towards it. It's right here.

Annabeth pulls the ring out of her pocket before getting on one knee on the ground. When she looks back up at her boyfriend, he is completely stunned. Annabeth nervously bites her bottom lip before unfolding his fingers and placing the ring in the palm of his hind.

"Percy," she says, the word a bit breathless. "This… this isour place_. _This is where I met you, and fell in love with you. You mean everything to me; I have never loved anybody as much as I love you, and I have never been loved by anybody as much as you love me. I am in love with your eyes, and your smile, and your sense of humor. I am in love with the birthmark that you have on your collar bone and even the way you snore during allergy season. I've never believed in soul mates, but you are mine. Without a doubt, you are my soul mate. So, Percy Jackson. Will you marry me?"

She actually holds her breath until he kneels down on the ground with her and puts the ring on her finger. He kisses her, long and deep and slow, and Annabeth feels woozy when he pulls away. He pours so much passion into her without even having to say words.

"Annabeth Jackson," he says musingly, pressing his lips to her forehead. "Seriously. Annabeth Jackson."

"Sound good?" she asks rhetorically, voice soft. "I mean, you're kind of stuck with it."

"Yeah." A grin washes over his face. "Yeah, I am. Aren't I?"

"You are," she confirms. She squishes her nose against his and then scrunches it up, moving her head back and forth to punctuate every word. "Forever and ever and ever."

(ooo)

The sun is setting by the time they've stacked all of the boxes. The brown cardboard boxes pile to the ceiling, levitation charms making them nearly unreachable. Luckily, Percy and Annabeth can levitate the boxes back downwards, but that doesn't change the fact that they could topple over at any moment. In any case, Annabeth is pretty sure that she's the only one who is worried. Everybody else is sprawled across the floor of Percy and Annabeth's new flat, munching on Chinese food from the spot down the street from their old apartment.

It had been the bribe that they used to get everybody to come unload the boxes: "Help us move and we will feed you." It had taken the better part of the day, even with apparation, because everybody had gotten exhausted from all of the back and forth and had to take a break around lunch, but Annabeth thinks that it was worth it. They had hours of unpacking to do, but with their friends all sprawled out on the floor, this place is already beginning to feel like home.

"My arms are sore," comments Leo, voicing what everybody else is thinking. Piper pats him on the bicep comfortingly.

"You might want to start playing more Quidditch," she suggests, teasing. Everybody laughs while Leo makes a face.

"At midnight?" he says sarcastically. "Because that's how late I've been working lately."

"You work too hard," Rachel informs him, closing her eyes as some lo mein slips effortlessly into her mouth. She has a very zen attitude when it comes to chopsticks, and it certainly pays off. "Live a little, Leo Valdez."

"Besides," Hazel says, "I don't want to see you in my hospital one day because you aren't getting enough sunlight. At least spend a little bit of time outside, even if you're working. Do blueprints out there or something."

"I'm sure my boss would love that," Leo snorts. "'Yo, bud. I'm just gonna go outside and do my work in the garden because my friend Hazel thinks I'm about to be hospitalized.'"

"And if you are, I'm sure she'll take excellent care of you," Frank says fondly, giving Hazel a soft kiss on the cheek.

"Blehg," Jason complains, pulling a face. "Remember when we were like that, Piper?"

She frowns.

"When you used to kiss me on the cheek? No. No, I do not."

"It was the Honeymoon stage," Jason recalls fondly. "And who knew that we would grow to be the longest lasting, most functional relationship in the group." Percy coughs loudly, causing Jason to raise his eyebrows innocently. "Some sake go down the wrong way?"

"We don't have sake, Jason," sighs Annabeth. "This is _Chinese_ food, not Japanese."

Frank nods. 

"I'm with blondie," he says, causing everybody to laugh.

"Annabeth and I are obviously the longest lasting, most functional relationship in the group," Percy says. "We were together before you and Piper even began flirting."

"But you broke up," points out Jason.

The entire group goes silent. Piper accidentally drops her dumpling; it flies up out of her chopsticks before arching in the air and landing elegantly on her paper plate.

"Don't be an arse," she says to her boyfriend. "A breakup doesn't restart the clock, it just unstops it. They've still been together for way longer than we have. In the grand scheme of things, a four month breakup doesn't even count."

Everybody is still quiet.

"Well that got real awkward real fast," Leo says after a few tense moments.

"Look," Hazel says, voice appeasing. "We're all just really, really happy that Percy and Annabeth's little 'break' is over. And they've had a wonderful month back together, so we should be thrilled for them."

"To the old married couple." Frank raises his glass. "May they actually turn into an old married couple."

Annabeth glances down at the ring that rests on her finger. It glints as she clinks her glass against Percy's, and she sees him smile at the sight of it on her finger. When they put their glasses down, Percy reaches over and cups Annabeth's hand in his. He spends the rest of the night fiddling with the band on her finger, gently rocking the diamond back-and-forth. All at once, she feels grown up. She feels like he's grown up, too.

They aren't little kids playing house anymore. He's bought her a ring. They're getting married.

The knowledge sits on Annabeth throughout the evening. She's ready to burst by the time their friends take their leave. It's 2 AM and they should really be tired, but as soon as Percy has closed the door of the flat, Annabeth has got her lips on his.

"You know what?" she says, pulling back only so she can nibble at his ear.

"Mmmm. What?"

"We don't have roommates anymore."

His smile broadens.

"We don't have to put a sock on the door."

"Or wait for your mum to leave the house." He cocks his head, confused. Annabeth shrugs. "We did that all the time when we were still at school."

Percy chuckles at the memory.

"So…" he says slowly.

"So," she replies.

"Really loud sex?"

Annabeth grabs his hand and makes a break for their bedroom. The only thing inside of the room at the moment is a mattress on the floor, but it's better than actually being on the floor.

"Really loud sex," she consents.

(ooo)

Percy's tie is slightly off center.

Annabeth tries not to panic as she reaches up to adjust it, but they've already rung the doorbell and what if her mother opens the door and Percy is standing there with a crooked tie?

"Breathe, Annabeth," Percy reminds her, reaching up to cover her hand with his own. When she struggles to free herself from his grasp, lest her mother open the door and see the first bit of tender affection she's ever been witness to, he grazes her knuckles with his lips before letting her go.

When the door flies open, Mrs. Chase is not the one to open it. Instead, a small elf is standing there, her eyes brightening when she sees Annabeth.

"Mitzi!" Annabeth says warmly. "Hello."

The elf checks behind herself before turning back to Annabeth and letting a small smile onto her face.

"Good evening, Miss Chase!" she squeaks. "It's been a long time."

"Since my birthday," Annabeth recalls as she steps into the house. She and Percy had still been broken up at that point. Annabeth suspects that her mother had been rather shocked upon hearing that Annabeth was bringing her boyfriend, but she had been too polite to say anything. As it were, Mrs. Chase had only figured out that Annabeth was single because Annabeth _always_ dragged Percy to family dinners with her.

"And Mister Percy is back!" the elf says in the same high pitched voice. "Mitzi has missed him."

"Annabeth, is that you?"

A casual voice floats down the hall, followed by Mrs. Chase turning the corner. Her grey eyes are cold, unlike Annabeth's, and her hair, once curly and blond like her daughter's, is swept into an elegant, graying updo. She's the same height as Annabeth but has always seemed to tower over her. Annabeth has complained to Percy that she thinks that her mother wears heels just to intimidate her and he hasn't disagreed beyond a half-hearted protest.

"Hello, mother," Annabeth says.

"Oh, and you've brought Percy," she says like she's surprised. "Lovely. I thought I'd seen the last of you." The two of them wince. Annabeth's mother ignores this, choosing to turn around and head towards the formal dining room. "Hand your coats to Mitzi, you two. It must be quite chilly outside."

"That tends to happen in November," Percy jokes. Annabeth stomps on his foot and he grimaces in apology to her.

Mrs. Chase pauses, her hand on the wall. She turns around, looks directly into Percy's eyes, and smiles fakely.

"How I've missed your sense of humor," she lies before turning the corner into the dining room, leaving the two of them in her wake.

"Shit," Percy mutters under his breath. "I forgot how much I hate this woman."

"You're still going to marry me, right?" Annabeth asks, only half-joking. He rolls his eyes and kisses her lightly on the mouth.

"Of course. I think I love you more because you turned out so differently than she is."

Annabeth isn't entirely sure how different she would have been from her mother had she not met Percy and their group of friends, but she doesn't say it. She's told him that before; thanked him for saving her from herself. Now it's her turn- she has to save him from her mother.

Dinner at the Chase home had been a quiet affair when Annabeth was a little girl. Her parents didn't speak very often, and Annabeth quickly learned to keep her mouth shut. The first time she had gone to dinner at Percy's house, she'd been shocked by the casual nature of interaction between him and his mother. They teased each other, and she asked about his day, and he was able to slouch in his seat. Annabeth remembers desperately wanting to eat pizza with a knife and fork, just out of habit.

Now that Annabeth rarely comes to her mother's home, dinner is an elongated event, topped off with clipped answers and pointed questions about her life.

"How is school, Annabeth?"

"Good."

"What are you planning on doing after you complete your… extra… education?"

"I'm planning on getting a small job at an architecture firm and working my way up."

"You know, I have a friend who works at-"

"Mother, no."

"No what?"

"No… thank you?"

"And why not?"

"I'm doing this on my own. I don't need extra help."

It's stubborn, but Annabeth hasn't gone to muggle university just so her mother could get her a job that she could have gotten without the degree. No, Annabeth is going to be doing this the same way that all of her peers are. She respects them too much to cheat the system.

"So, Percy," Mrs. Chase says, looking at him over her steak. "How is your teaching position treating you?"

"I'm actually working at Hogwarts now," he says. She looks up, impressed.

"Are you?"

"Yeah," Percy nods, trying extra hard to maintain eye contact with her. Annabeth places a hand on his knee under the table. "Ancient Runes."

"And you've been working there since start of term?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Nearly four months. Are you enjoying it?"

"I am," Percy nods.

"How wonderful for you," she says, returning to her glass of red wine. Percy lets out a sigh of relief. "So. Did you two really think that I would go an entire meal without commenting on the diamond that is resting on my daughter's finger?"

Percy chokes on his wine and Annabeth pats him squarely on the back.

"We're getting married," she says when her fiance has completed his coughing fit.

"That seems rather odd," says Mrs. Chase, "On account of the fact that the two of you were broken up the last time you were here for dinner."

"Things change," says Annabeth protectively. "I realized that I couldn't live without Percy and he realized that he was willing to compromise. We solved our problems by growing up."

"Are you absolutely certain that more problems won't arise? A binding is forever, you know."

Annabeth does know. It's the reason why her parents still aren't divorced. It's the reason why Annabeth's father's wife isn't truly his wife, and why their children are technically illegitimate.

"If they do, we'll figure them out together," Percy says confidently. "We've been together since we were kids. We know each other well enough to know that we're going to fight all of the time… but we make up. We always do."

"And marriages are about compromise," Annabeth begins, knowing that she's about to venture into dangerous territory. "They're about compromise and communication and love and passion and friendship, and _we _have all of those things."

Her mother's lips thin as Percy's eyes widen. He gives Annabeth a shocked, horrified look but she just squares her shoulders and glares at her mother. For a moment, it's just the two of them, staring at each other with the headstrong gaze that only they two have mastered. Mrs. Chase releases her expression before Annabeth does, backing down more easily than Annabeth had thought she would.

"When is your wedding, then?"

"August 1st," Percy responds after a few moments of silence. Annabeth's motor skills seem to have vanished in her shock. "We have a venue selected and Annabeth is working with…" he glances over at her, not sure if he should reveal the rest of the information. She just nods. "Annabeth is working with my mum. To plan the rest."

Mrs. Chase seems to freeze, her eyes coming to rest on Annabeth. She unsuccessfully tries to straighten her back even more, leading to some awkward shifting in her hair. This time, it's Percy's turn to comfort her. He wraps his hand around hers underneath the table and plays with the ring on Annabeth's finger.

"If you need monetary help, please let me know."

Her voice is hushed; chastised. Annabeth's expression is panicked as she looks over at Percy, but he just shakes his head, befuddled.

The sinking feeling doesn't leave her stomach for the rest of the evening.

(ooo)

Diagon Alley is full of small, quaint shops, each specializing in something more magical than the last. But when Annabeth had stumbled upon the Buttercream Bakery, she knew that Diagon Alley was presenting her with a gift. After all, she had been meandering around, trying to find magical lanterns that would stay lit through the reception, and she ended up at a bakery.

It had seemed like fate to her, and Annabeth had immediately scheduled an appointment. When she had come home that night and told Percy that they had an appointment to try different types of cakes, he had lifted her off of the floor in what has to be one of the most romantic kisses that they've ever shared.

"Is this it?"

Percy is practically salivating as they walk down the street. Every time he sees a bakery, Annabeth can practically feel the excited energy as it thrums through him. Her feet hit hard against the cobblestone as he pulls her forward, acting like Blackjack on a walk. She's just considering letting go of his hand and allowing him to take off down Diagon Alley when she sees the familiar sign of the Buttercream Bakery.

"That's it," Annabeth nods, and is greeted with a cheer from her fiance. Behind her, Piper lets out a small sort, which makes Hazel elbow her in the side.

"This is the child that I raised," Sally says, exchanging a falsely exasperated look with Piper.

"Aren't you proud?" Piper asks, giggling slightly. She's still got her badge on from work and is loitering behind with Sally so that somebody can steer her in the right direction while she looks around the street in awe. The Daily Prophet offices are right down the street from the bakery, so Piper isn't nearly as fascinated by Diagon Alley as Sally is.

"She should be proud," Annabeth says, trying not to laugh when Percy reaches the front door and begins jumping up and down. His blue shirt flops with him, revealing a pale patch of stomach, which Annabeth tries very hard to ignore. Living on their own means that they have plenty of time for impurity, but dirty thoughts are significantly more unwelcome when they're around Percy's mum. "He's a wonderful human being."

"You're just saying that because he agreed to marry you," Hazel teases.

"And because he's her best friend," Piper puts in distastefully. "Uck. It's kind of gross."

"Right, because you and Jason are _never_ gross," Annabeth chuckles as they catch up to Percy.

"I've seen Jason do gross things," he says, opening up the door to the bakery. "Shit, there was this one time-"

"Yes, thank you, dear."

He shuts up immediately as Annabeth kisses him on the cheek, and she can't help but congratulate herself at her ability to get him to take a hint.

The shop is small and warm; it smells of coffee and freshly baked goods. A lazy, happy smile slides onto Percy's face when he gets a whiff of the air.

"Can we move here?" he whispers to Annabeth.

"Where would we take showers?" she asks rhetorically, squinting in false contemplation. He laughs from his belly.

They're seated at a small table, just big enough for the five of them, and are given coffee and water to drink while tasting the different cakes. The baker, a small, pretty woman with thick brown hair that curls around her cheeks, speaks with a tiny voice that doesn't do her enthusiasm justice. Annabeth can see her love for the business just in the way she asks questions about the wedding. "Have you found the dress yet?" is one of the first questions out of her mouth.

"I have," Annabeth says, ducking her head and tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "I found it last week."

"She looks hot," Piper says bluntly, glancing over at Percy. He gives her a double thumbs up.

"Thanks for that, McLean."

"It's awesome because Annabeth has never been one of those girly-girls who was obsessed with her wedding," Hazel recalls. "But as soon as the dress was on, it was like a switch flipped."

"I'm still not obsessed," Annabeth cuts in. She looks over at Percy, who is smirking. "I'm really not!"

"Okay, honey," he says. "Let the nice woman finish asking about the wedding."

"Do you have any idea what you want the cake to look like?" the baker asks.

"Look like?" Percy frowns. Annabeth pats his leg as she answers.

"Well, I haven't really thought about it," she begins. "But the wedding is a blue and silver theme, so maybe… a light blue cake with silver piping- oh, but not turquoise light blue, a soft light blue- and then the different tiers are shaped like boxes?" They all stare at her. "Just… just a thought."

"She's an architect," Sally says, trying not to smile. "Very detail oriented."

The baker nods and gets up, heading to the back of the store to grab some cake samples.

"Is detail-oriented a very kind of way saying 'bridezilla?'" Piper inquires under her breath as she leaves. Annabeth kicks her under the table.

"You try putting on a wedding and see how you act!"

"I have a question," Hazel says in her usual cheery voice. Annabeth doesn't know how she keeps her happy disposition while working at a hospital. "What happened to the small, intimate wedding that you two were planning?"

"Annabeth's mother sent us a list with about a hundred of her 'closest friends and family,'" says Percy wryly. "And then we have my mum's side, and Annabeth's dad's side."

Nobody asks about Percy's father, which Annabeth is grateful for.

"Plus people I met at Uni, and my new coworkers from my internship, and Percy's coworkers. And people we know from school."

"In short," Percy says, scrunching up his nose. "The small wedding is dead."

Annabeth nods in agreement.

"And buried."

"But," Percy grins wolfishly as the baker emerges from the kitchen, levitating a platter full of different types of cakes. "We do have cake."

"Cake solves everything," Sally says. "Especially when it is blue cake."

"Ah, blue cake," Percy says, closing his eyes and giving a surprised grunt when a warm piece of raspberry cake hits his tongue. "Annabeth, I want this one."

"You sure about that?" she asks knowingly, shoving a piece with chocolate fudge filling into his open mouth. His eyes widen.

"No! I want that one!"

"Hey, lemon flavored cake!" Hazel says happily. "Try this Percy."

"Oh! That one!"

"We're going to be here all night," Piper sighs.

"At least there's food, though," Annabeth says, her eyes twinkling conspiratorially.

"Oh, that reminds me," Percy says, taking a break from ravishing his fork with his tongue. Annabeth shivers slightly. "Are we going out to dinner after this, or…?"

Everybody groans.

"Eat your cake, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth says.

(ooo)

Their flat is brightly lit when Annabeth arrives home from work; Percy must not have patrol tonight. She opens the door without any resistance, dropping her purse and a heavy bag of Honeydukes chocolates onto the side-table where they keep their mail. Annabeth locks the door and massages her forehead, leaning against the cool metal.

"That bad, huh?" Percy asks from the kitchen. He's got a dish towel slung over his shoulder and is stirring a pot full of soup, even though it's June.

"The worst," she echoes. "What's with the soup?"

"I felt like cooking," he shrugs. "And we had leftover beef so I figured I would make a stew."

Annabeth kisses him on the cheek before kicking off her shoes and hopping onto the kitchen counter. He's got some merlot perched next to the pot, and she grabs the bottle and lifts it to her lips, groaning as it hits her tongue.

"Whoa there," Percy says, grabbing the bottle from her. "Take it easy."

"Sorry," she says unrepentantly. She gets off of the counter, grabs her bag of chocolate from the doorway, and begins to unwrap the first bar.

"Chocolate _and _wine? What the hell happened today?"

Annabeth just shakes her head as she takes a seat at their small kitchen table.

"Some of the people that I work for are complete wankers," she says fervently. "Do you know how exhausting it is to deal with twelve-year-olds all day?" Percy raises his eyebrows at her and cocks his head. "Oh. Right."

He laughs.

"But at least my twelve-year-olds are supposed to be twelve. Yours are supposed to function as adults."

"Yes, exactly!" Annabeth says, eyes flitting down to Percy's bum. His back is to her as he faces the stove, and his trousers hug it enticingly. "Oh well. At least my fiance has a nice arse, right?"

Percy turns around, eyes wide. When he sees Annabeth smirking, he wiggles said body part, striking poses to make her laugh. She shakes her head.

"You're a doofus."

"You love me."

"With all my heart."

For a moment, the two of them stare at each other, silly grins on their faces.

"So. We're getting married in a month, huh?"

School is about to end, and then they have all of July to panic about their unfortunately giant wedding before it finally occurs in early August.

"Which reminds me," Annabeth says, reaching behind herself to let her hair out of its bun. She moans as it tumbles down her back, then runs her fingers through it so that it fluffs up a little bit. The curls at the tips of her hair are springier from being in a bun all day. "We need to pick a date to get married."

Percy frowns.

"What… what do you mean?"

"Well, we have to have the binding," Annabeth points out. "The wedding is a formality. The government won't recognize that we're married until we have the binding ceremony."

"Do people usually do that before or after the wedding?"

"People like to do it on the day of, but we're getting married on a Sunday. The Ministry won't be open."

Percy sets his spoon down.

"Hang on," he says. "Are you saying that we could get married without all of the stress and anxiety of having a wedding day?"

Annabeth frowns, confused.

"Yes?"

"Are you saying that we could have a binding just for us and then worry about the wedding later?"

She starts to catch on.

"Yes…" 

He sets down the spoon and goes over to Annabeth, kneeling on the floor in front of her chair.

"Annabeth. Let's do it."

"When?"

He thinks for a moment.

"Tonight."

"That's crazy, Percy," she says, her heart picking up speed. "We should just do it the day before the wedding like everybody else does."

"Yeah, but… look, Leo's going out with that girl from the law department, right?"

"...Right?"

"And Leo owes me a favor."

"Okay?"

"So we just go in there and get married _tonight_ and do the binding _tonight _and then, no matter what happens on our wedding day, this is the night that we get married. This is our anniversary. Just a random day in June that doesn't dreg up bad memories with your dad and his wife, or dealing with your mum, or anything that goes wrong with the wedding at all."

She blinks at him.

"Percy, I'm wearing a pencil skirt and blazer."

"And you look hot."

He gives himself a high-five.

"I spilled coffee on my shirt earlier today. I… I smell like coffee."

"And you smell _hot_."

She laughs loudly, then strokes his face.

"You really want to use the favor that Leo owes you on… this?"

"Always," he says sincerely.

Annabeth's smile broadens.

"Yeah…" she says softly. "Yeah. Let's get _married_."

Percy whoops loudly, jumping up from his kneeling position to give Annabeth a quick, awkward kiss that mashes her nose uncomfortably against his.

"I'm gonna go floo Leo!" he shouts over his shoulder. "Put your heels back on!"

"You won't marry me in trainers?" calls Annabeth teasingly.

"No, our marriage is conditional upon heels," he yells back, and Annabeth actually giggles as she hears the fire roar to life.

It takes some convincing on both Leo and his girlfriend's part, but an hour later, Percy and Annabeth are sitting in Calypso's waiting room, holding hands and trying not to feel jittery.

"You were going to get married without telling us?" screeches a voice, and the two of them turn around to see Piper, Jason, Hazel, and Frank dashing down the hall, knocking each other over in their eagerness to reach Percy and Annabeth. Tears fill Annabeth's eyes as she launches herself into Piper's arms.

"Congrats, man," Jason says, giving Percy a very affectionate handshake before he pulls his best friend into a man-hug. "This is a good call."

"Agreed," Percy says, glancing fondly over at Annabeth.

"Yo," Leo says, emerging from Calypso's office. "She's ready." His grin widens when he sees their friends. "And I guess we have witnesses."

"Bridesmaids," Piper corrects him, grinning cheekily.

"Let's go," Annabeth whispers, grabbing Percy's hand. They walk into the office together, holding onto each other tightly.

The binding ceremony doesn't require unique vows; that's what the wedding is for. With that in mind, Annabeth and Percy are able to walk right in without knowing what to expect. They've done research, of course- long nights where Annabeth read to Percy, her feet on his lap, her back against the arm of the couch. But they only know a rough outline of what the ceremony entails, and a lot of the time that they've spent studying it has been reviewing the rules for the binding. By wizarding law, a couple is not allowed to perform the ceremony if they haven't read the rules and agreed that this is something that they can keep for themselves. After all, if you break the binding, you lose your magic.

Calypso asks for the rings first. Annabeth and Percy hand them to her and she removes the cork from the potion bottle before placing the rings inside it. Then she hands them the two quills that they're going to be using to sign the documents.

"This is only going to hurt a little bit," she promises, grimacing apologetically.

"It's fine," Annabeth says.

"Okay, then let's begin. Percy Jackson, do you understand that signing these papers will forever bind your magic to Annabeth Chase's magic? Do you accept the fact that betrayal of the laws of the Marriage Binding will cause you to lose your power eternally? Do you accept possession of both her magic and your own, therefore strengthening each other's powers in union?"

Percy glances over at Annabeth.

"Yeah. I do."

"Annabeth Chase. Do you understand that signing these papers will forever bind your magic to Percy Jackson's magic? Do you accept the fact that betrayal of the laws of the Marriage Binding will cause you to lose your power eternally? Do you accept possession of both his magic and your own, therefore strengthening each other's powers in union?"

"I do," she nods.

"Please sign your names on the contract," Calypso instructs, gesturing to the first quill. Percy signs first, then Annabeth. She takes a deep breath, then writes _Annabeth Jackson_ in the neatest handwriting that she can. Percy swallows loudly at the sight of the name. She can tell that he wants to grab her hand, but he doesn't. "Now, sign each other's names with the other quill."

This is the part that hurts. Annabeth picks up the quill and lets it hover over the paper before pressing down hard, writing _Percy Jackson. _She lets out a small grunt of pain, but he places his hand on her back, comforting her as she writes his name in her own blood. It appears, etched onto the top of her hand.

"Now you, Mr. Jackson."

He writes _Annabeth Jackson_ as quickly as possible, but he presses down just as hard on the paper, which makes Annabeth smile. They want the scars to last.

Calypso holds out the potion that the rings are in. She asks them to press their bleeding hands together before dropping their blood into the potion. When they do, she puts the stopper in it and lifts her wand. 

"_Semper amare_," she says clearly. The potion begins to glow. "_Semper amare_," she says again, and the potion goes from red to white in a flash. When Calypso reaches into it to pull out the rings, they are dry in spite of the liquid. "Mr. Jackson, please place the ring on your wife's finger." He does. "Mrs. Jackson, please place the ring on your husband's finger." She does. Calypso pours half of the potion into two Ministry grade cups with the date etched onto them and hands the cups to Percy and Annabeth. "Hold hands as you drink, please."

He gives her a smile that makes her heart melt before lifting the potion to his lips. When Annabeth downs hers, she learns that it tastes absolutely foul. But then their rings start glowing on their fingers and she focuses only on the white-gold strings of magic that are connecting their enjoined hands.

"With the power vested in me by the Ministry of Magic, I now pronounce you eternally bound," Calypso says, satisfied. Her voice loses its professional tone as she begins to grin. "Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson."

(ooo)

"Hey, what do you want to do tomorrow?" Percy asks. He's leaning on the door to the living room, a towel wrapped around his waist and a cocky grin on his face. Annabeth looks up from her book, stroking her chin as she contemplates this.

"Not sure," she says, musingly. Then her eyes brighten. "Oh, I have an idea!"

"What?" Percy smirks.

"We could get married again!"

"Dude!" Percy cheers, walking up to her and raising his hand for a high five. "That is an excellent idea."

"Yeah?" Annabeth asks as he walks around the couch and slides on top of her, resting all of his weight on his hands. His towel begins to slip as she runs her foot up his leg, setting the book down on the floor and not caring when she loses her page.

"Oh yeah," he murmurs, leaning down to kiss her. She laughs into it, hands going to the towel to attempt to unfurl it.

"Oh _shit_," says another voice, and the two of them look up to see Jason standing in the doorway, a hand over his eyes. "Oh fuck."

Percy scrambles off of Annabeth, trying not to laugh at the sight of his distraught best friend.

"Jason!" Annabeth yells, picking up her book and lobbing it at his head. "You don't just barge into the house of a newlywed couple, idiot!"

"I was kidnapping you!" he complains. "For your bachelor parties."

They glance over at each other, looking alarmed.

"I don't wanna get smashed tonight, Jason," Percy says. "We have to deal with Annabeth's mother all day tomorrow."

"I'm with the naked guy," Annabeth agrees. "I think we should just go to bed early."

"Ugh, you're already so married," Jason comments, taking his hand away from his eyes. "Going to bed early… not wanting to get drunk. Poor you."

"You're enjoying being twenty-two way too much," Annabeth tells him, pointing her wand at the book. "_Accio book_!" she says, waiting to set her wand down until it has flown into her grasp. "Have a night in, why don't you?"

"I have plenty of nights in," Jason says, winking.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Annabeth asks drily, at the same time Percy complains,

"Dude. I'm in a towel." 

"I can't talk about my sex life while you're in a towel?"

"It's weird."

"Not as weird as your surprising lack of chest hair."

"Would you stop making fun of my chest hair!"

Annabeth, who is a personal fan of what little chest hair her husband does have, glares at Jason.

"We're not going out tonight."

"You are," he insists. "Annabeth, Piper said to put on a dress."

"What kind of dress?"

"A… black one?" 

"Mmm. Helpful. Thanks, Jason."

"You're welcome!" he replies, perking up.

Percy wrinkles his nose.

"And what should I wear?"

"Something you would wear to a bar," Jason says decisively. "I'll be back in an hour."

"What if I don't want to go to a-?" Percy begins, but Jason slams the door behind himself and leaves the two of them to get dressed. "They aren't going to leave us alone, are they?"

"No," Annabeth confirms. "They are not."

"And it is our last night of being single," he teases.

"We didn't get bachelor parties the last time we got married."

"So we should go?"

Her voice softens.

"We should be with them. They've been nothing but supportive throughout our entire lives and we've been so busy lately."

"Adulthood, huh?" Percy sighs.

"Adulthood," echoes Annabeth.

So Annabeth goes to their bedroom and puts on a black dress, high heels, and diamond earrings. She does her makeup better than usual, to her delight, but it seems like a waste because they're most likely going to be going to a club and drinking girly drinks while Annabeth tries to seem like she's not there in order to not get hit on. When Piper arrives an hour later, looking stunning in a red dress and silver heels, Annabeth balks at her appearance.

"Um, I'm the bride. You are not allowed to look hotter than me."

"Shut up, you," she says, hugging Annabeth. "Now let's go. Seeya, Percy!" she calls into the flat.

"Bye!" he hollers back. "Have a nice time, love," he adds, poking his head out of their bedroom door.

"Aw, thanks," Piper replies. "Love you too, Perce."

Piper grasps Annabeth's arm and the two of them apparate into a small town that Annabeth's never been to before.

"Where are we?" she asks.

"Ottery St. Catchpole," Piper tells her, looking both ways to check for cars before walking across the street of the quaint town. She grabs Annabeth's arm and pulls her along. "Keep up."

"Is there a club here?" Annabeth frowns. "It seems kind of… homey."

"Don't worry," Piper chuckles. "I know exactly where we're going."

She pulls Annabeth through the streets of the sleepy town, past several pubs. Annabeth wonders if Percy and Jason are going to any of them. Eventually, they leave the town and begin walking along dirt roads.

"You definitely could have told me that I shouldn't wear heels," Annabeth says, wincing as the rocks crunch under their feet. She would take off the shoes, but she has a feeling that doing so would only serve to make the trip more uncomfortable.

"You'll be okay," Piper says absently, pulling Annabeth towards a forest.

"Whoa, whoa!" Annabeth says. "Piper, stop. What's going on?" 

Piper blinks.

"We're going to your bachelorette party."

Annabeth quirks an eyebrow.

"Yes, but… we have literally passed all human civilization and you are pulling me into a dark forest and even though we have known each other for eleven years, I am not one-hundred-percent positive that you are not about to murder me."

"Just, trust me," Piper says, rolling her eyes. "It's the best spot in town. It's just a little out of the way." 

"A little?" Annabeth repeats sarcastically.

"_Lumos maxima_," Piper mutters, and the light of her wand grows until the forest is illuminated. Annabeth does the same, then remains quiet as Piper pulls her through the beautiful forest.

She only slows down after fifteen minutes, when they read a large, grassy clearing.

"Quidditch hoops?" Annabeth asks when the trees have parted. "What are you-?"

"Annabeth?"

She turns around.

"Percy?"

He looks at Jason and she looks at Piper.

"Surprise!" they both say, and that's when Percy and Annabeth notice Hazel, Frank, Leo, Grover, and Rachel standing around the edge of the field. "Welcome to your joint bachelor parties."

"We have Quidditch and alcohol."

"Don't worry, we stole your brooms from your flat."

"And Leo learned how to mix drinks especially for the occasion, so Percy can drink all the appletinis that he wants."

"Yes!" Percy calls, pumping his fist.

Piper takes off her heels and heads towards the Quaffle.

"Pipes," Annabeth says, halting her. "Thank you. So much. This is… above and beyond."

A smile grows on Piper's face as she modestly half-shrugs.

"I figured that you two wouldn't want to be separated on the night before you got married for the second time.."

"You're right."

"Besides," Piper snorts. "Can you imagine _Percy Jackson _at a strip club?"

"Is that what Jason wanted to do?" Annabeth inquires, kicking her heels off and following Piper into the forest. Hazel attacks her in a hug and hands Annabeth her broomstick.

"Yep," Piper confirms distastefully. "As if I was going to let him go to a strip club without me."

"Without you?" Annabeth and Hazel say at the same time. Piper's eyes widen as she catches her slip-up.

"Um… I like to monitor him?"

Hazel tries not to smile.

"You like to make up backstories for the strippers, don't you?"

Piper stamps her foot.

"It's a really fun game, okay?"

"We are _not _judging," Annabeth promises as Percy sidles up to her and hands her a cosmo. "But… yeah. That's weird."

"Can we just get drunk and play Quidditch?" Piper sighs.

"Because those two things together seem like a very safe combination," Frank chuckles.

Jason shrugs.

"What's life without a little danger?"

"Yeah!" Percy agrees. "Like, Annabeth could easily ditch me at the altar tomorrow, but I'm taking a risk and deciding that the pro of getting married outweighs the con of being stood up."

"For the _last time_, Percy Jackson, _you are already married_! Stop making that joke," Leo complains.

His eyes widen.

"What! No. It's funny." He looks at Annabeth for help.

"It's very funny, sweetheart," she lies.

The group groans.

"Please stop encouraging him," Frank says.

"So Quidditch?" Hazel says, clapping her hands together excitedly. "Bride and groom are captains. Pick your teams, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson."

(ooo)

Before today, Annabeth would have assumed that the best thing about her wedding day would be the architecture. She had picked an old, rustic building with some of the most beautiful design technique she had ever seen. The architect who had designed it had made all of the building, technical pieces of the building and made it beautiful. Annabeth had wanted to get married here since her class had taken a trip to the building sophomore year of uni.

But times change and people grow, and when the doors fly open and Annabeth begins walking down the aisle, she realizes that the architecture is not, in fact, the best part of her wedding. The best part of her wedding is the look on Percy's face when he sees her in her dress. It's cream colored and strapless, with a skirt that's easy to manage aside from the tiny train that flutters around the floor. Most of the dress is tight, but it gets progressively flowier as it falls gracefully to the ground. She likes how it moves with her, like water. But mostly, Annabeth loves the small blue belt that accentuates her waist. She doesn't often feel overly feminine, but this dress brings her femininity on a day that she values it greatly. Her hair is half braided, half down, creating a crown on her head in lieu of a veil. And when her husband sees her, tears spring into his eyes.

It took them eleven years to get down this aisle, but they did it.

He takes her hand when she gets to the altar and runs his thumbs along the smooth skin there. As the Wizard who is marrying them begins his opening speech, Annabeth wants to tell Percy that he looks hot in a skinny tie, but she holds her tongue. They're standing up in front of everybody that they know and Annabeth doesn't exactly want to hit on her husband. There'll be plenty of time for that when they're dancing later on.

They hadn't wanted to do vows in front of everybody that they knew, but Percy had wanted to make promises at the alter. Annabeth agreed that they would write their own vows on the stipulation that they spoke them quietly; only for each other. This wedding is for everybody else, but she wants to keep the vows just for them. Luckily, Percy speaks first, setting the tone of what they're doing.

"Annabeth," he says nervously, taking both of her hands in his. She's already wearing his wedding ring, and the binding laws state that they cannot take the rings off, but they can still pretend that they're actually getting married. "The thing that's amazing about marrying my best friend is the fact that we will love each other forever. Even if we somehow become less passionate in the future, we will still be in love with each other. Because you are the person that I go to when I hear a funny joke. You are the person that has tasted my bad cooking, and you're not afraid to tease me about it. You and I have jumped on beds together and read books out loud to each other and gotten through the worst situations with each other. No matter what, our friendship will always be here. Annabeth, in sixth year I asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up even though I didn't know the answer myself. But I know what I was picturing. No matter what career I ended up in, I pictured myself with you. Right here- married to you and loving you and still, always, eternally, being your best friend in the whole world. I can't wait to continue growing up with you, even if our future is uncertain. That's fine, as long as I have you to make me laugh and make me smile and make me shut up by kissing me. I love you."

Annabeth gives herself a few moments before she begins.

"I was on a path," she says quickly, launching into her vows in a rather jerky fashion. Percy laughs, then leans down and gives her a soothing kiss on the cheek. Annabeth feels her heart calm down almost immediately. When she looks back up at him, she's less nervous. "I was going somewhere; I was going to be this specific person and have this specific character trait and out with these specific people. Because of my parentage, that path was predestined for me. And then… you. I met you, and suddenly, I wasn't on that path anymore. Suddenly I was a girl who laughed, and who hung out with people that weren't all purebloods and weren't as academically smart as her- no offense, love- and who was able to let go of the prejudiced chip that she had worn on her shoulder throughout her life. You did that, Percy. You're the one that pulled me out of the person that I could have been and nudged me towards the person that I am. I don't like the other Annabeth. I don't like who I could have turned out to be. Every day, I am grateful for you, and the life that you have given me with you. The life that you have allowed us to have together is… beautiful. Amazing. Wonderful. I laugh more, and I think more, and I know more, and that's because of us. Percy, I'm so glad that I'm in love with you. You make me a better person. You make me _better_, period. So, in return, I'm going to do what eleven-year-old me never would have deigned to do. I'm going to love you, in honor of the fact that she would have ended up in a loveless marriage. I'm going to cherish you, because she would have taken you for granted. And I'm going care for you, always, because eleven-year-old Annabeth Chase only knew how to care for herself. Now I'm going to care for me, and you, and the life that we have built together. This is ours, Percy, and nobody can take it away from us. Nobody ever will."

When they say their second set of "I dos" and are pronounced husband and wife, Percy throws propriety out the window and kisses Annabeth so hard that she has to grip onto his jacket to keep from tumbling over. They walk back down the aisle with their fingers entwined, ignoring the applause of their family members in favor of speaking quietly to each other.

The hall at which their reception is held had been decorated to Annabeth's mother's tastes- it was the one acquisition that she made, besides the guest list. But it's breathtaking. It's twilight, so the room is only partly lit by sun. The rest is lit by magical candles and fires, settled on the table or floating in the air. Some of the fires are yellow, gold, and red, some of them the blue fires that Annabeth's childhood home had often been lit by. Her mother used to let her scoop up those fires and play with them.

Percy's family members will think that they're attached by strings, not magically floating. But that's okay. They don't need to know.

There are also giant tree branches, painted white, as the centerpieces for the tables. It gives the room an overall magical atmosphere, like Hogwarts during the wintertime. When Percy pulls her onto the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife, Annabeth is torn between looking around at the beautiful room or looking at her beautiful husband.

"This is really fucking pretty," Percy says, echoing her thoughts. She laughs and closes her eyes, listening to the music.

"It is," she murmurs before humming their wedding song, _Something Good_, in his ear.

"We doin' this?" Percy asks, quirking a half smile.

"Well, it is our wedding day."

"You know that we're both tone deaf, right?"

"Pfft. _You're _tone deaf."

"You are too!"

"If you're tone deaf, how would you know if I am?"

He laughs loudly, then buries his face in her hair to muffle it. Annabeth strokes the back of his neck, singing quietly in his ear.

"_For here you are, standing there, loving me. Whether or not you should._"

"_So somewhere in my youth, or childhood… I must have done something good._"

**tbc**

**A/N: And here is Part II! It took me forever and a day, so I hope that you found some enjoyment in it. I've decided to split the fic into three parts, and I thought that this was a good place to cut off Part II. Luckily, it's the same length as Part I, almost exactly. **

**Thank you to sass-is-the-new-class (Ashley) for beta reading and to chasexjackson (Hannah) and percyyoulittleshit (Mariana) for listening to me moan about how long this is and and helping me plan the wedding and figure out what I want to do with the story. **

**I can't decide whether I want Part III to be from Percy's PoV or Annabeth's PoV, so if you have an opinion on this matter, please feel free to let me know! I hope you review- it makes the madness worthwhile when I'm going through the writing process. ~writergirl8**


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